New species of Eimeria (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from Thrichomys fosteri and Clyomys laticeps (Rodentia: Echimyidae) of the Brazilian Pantanal

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) Vol. 116; no. 11; pp. 2941 - 2956
• Main Authors: Barreto, Wanessa Teixeira Gomes, Viana, Lúcio André, Santos, Filipe Martins, de Oliveira Porfírio, Grasiela Edith, Perdomo, Alessandra Cabral, da Silva, Alanderson Rodrigues, de Sousa, Keyla Carstens Marques, de Oliveira, Michel Angelo Constantino, Herrera, Heitor Miraglia, de Andrade, Gisele Braziliano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-11-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brazil; Clyomys laticeps; Coccidiosis - parasitology; Coccidiosis - veterinary; Eimeria; Eimeria - classification; Eimeria - isolation & purification; Female; Food chains; Fossils; Immunology; Male; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; New species; Original Paper; Parasitism; Predators; Rodentia; Rodentia - parasitology; Shells; Thrichomys; Brazil; Pantanal; Coccidia; Histopathology; Small mammals; Clyomys laticeps; Thrichomys fosteri
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-017-5602-z

The echimyid rodents
Thrichomys fosteri
and
Clyomys laticeps
are among the most commonly recorded small mammals in the Pantanal wetland of Brazil. These species play important ecological roles since they are the basis of the food chain of some predators and are parasitized by some pathogens. Knowledge of the eimerians that parasitize echimyid rodents in Brazil is absent, and only one report is available for South America. We therefore investigated parasitism by coccidians in the echimyids
T. fosteri
and
C. laticeps
in the Pantanal. Using morphological and morphometric features and associated statistical analyses, we describe five new eimerian species parasitizing
T. fosteri
(
Eimeria nhecolandensis
n. sp.,
Eimeria jansenae
n. sp., and
Eimeria fosteri
n. sp.) and
C. laticeps
(
E. nhecolandensis
n. sp.
, Eimeria corumbaensis
n. sp., and
Eimeria laticeps
n. sp.) in different types of infection associations. We document the developmental forms in the tissues, and describe lesions in the enteric tract of some infected animals. We also discuss some approaches regarding epidemiological and ecological data. Our results demonstrate that echimyid rodents in the Brazilian Pantanal are important hosts for the maintenance of enteric coccidia. Moreover, in some circumstances, this parasitism may threaten the health of the hosts.