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A new species of Eimeria Schneider, 1885 (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis (Rodentia: Sciuridae: Sciurinae: Sciurini) from Oklahoma, USA

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Abstract

A new species of Eimeria Schneider, 1885 is described from an eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) from McCurtain County, Oklahoma, USA. Oöcysts of Eimeria lukfataensis n. sp. are ellipsoidal with a rough pitted bi-layered wall, measure 23.8 × 14.9 µm, and have a length/width (L/W) ratio of 1.6; a micropyle is absent but an oöcyst residuum and polar granule(s) are present. Sporocysts are ellipsoidal and measure 12.5 × 6.1 µm, L/W 2.0; Stieda and sub-Stieda bodies are present, but para-Stieda body is absent. The sporocyst residuum is composed of small indistinct granules along the edge or in the center of the sporocyst. This is the first species of coccidian reported from S. carolinensis from Oklahoma and only the fourth species from the sciurid tribe Sciurini with oöcysts possessing an oöcyst residuum.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Drs Renn Tumlison (HSU) and Scott L. Gardner and Gabor R. Racz (HWML) for expert curatorial assistance, and Ainsley Oates (U. Wyoming-Casper) for help in processing samples.

Funding

This study was supported, in part, by a Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM103432), National Institutes of Health (NIH) to R.S. Seville. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Mathematics Division, Eastern Oklahoma State College, Idabel, OK, 74745, USA

    Chris T. McAllister

  2. Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Casper, WY, 82601, USA

    Dagmara Motriuk-Smith & R. Scott Seville

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  1. Chris T. McAllister
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  2. Dagmara Motriuk-Smith
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  3. R. Scott Seville
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Correspondence to Chris T. McAllister.

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All applicable institutional, national and international guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. Scientific Collecting Permits were provided to CTM by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (Permit Number 7297).

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McAllister, C.T., Motriuk-Smith, D. & Scott Seville, R. A new species of Eimeria Schneider, 1885 (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis (Rodentia: Sciuridae: Sciurinae: Sciurini) from Oklahoma, USA. Syst Parasitol 96, 417–421 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-019-09857-9

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