The sicklefin redhorse, Moxostoma sp. (Cypriniformes: Catostomidae), is an innominate imperiled catostomid endemic to the Hiwassee and Little Tennessee river basins, which has been restricted to a few tributaries of these systems by impoundments. During collections to propagate sicklefin redhorse for reintroduction, a myxozoan, described herein, was observed infecting sicklefin redhorse in the Little Tennessee River Basin, North Carolina. Myxobolus naylori Ksepka et Bullard sp. n. infects the stratum spongiosum covering the scales of sicklefin redhorse. Myxospores of the new species differ from all congeners by the combination of having a mucous envelope, intercapsular process, and sutural markings as well as lacking an iodinophilic vacuole in the sporoplasm. and A phylogenetic analysis of the 18S rDNA gene recovered the new species in a polytomy with Myxobolus marumotoi Li et Sato, 2014 and a clade comprised of species of Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882; Thelohanellus Kudo, 1933, and Dicauda Hoffman et Walker, 1973. Histological sections of infected sicklefin redhorse skin revealed myxospores within a plasmodium in the stratum spongiosum dorsal to scales, encapsulated in collagen fibres, and associated with focal erosion of scales directly beneath the plasmodium; in some instances, the scale was perforated by the plasmodium. The specificity of the new species to sicklefin redhorse may make it a useful biological tag to differentiate sicklefin redhorse from morphologically similar species. The new species is the first parasite reported from sicklefin redhorse, a species of concern to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. No species of Myxobolus has been reported from species of Moxostoma in the Southeast United States. As it was observed that Myxobolus minutus Rosser, Griffin, Quiniou, Alberson, Woodyard, Mischker, Greenway, Wise et Pote, 2016 is a primary junior homonym of Myxobolus minutus Nemeczek, 1911, we propose the replacement name Myxobolus diminutus (Rosser, Griffin, Quiniou, Alberson, Woodyard, Mischker, Greenway, Wise et Pote, 2016).
The Natal multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis, occurs throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Mitochondrial phylogenetics indicate this species was fragmented during the Pleistocene, forming six matrilineage phylogroups: A-I, A-II, A-III, B-IV, B-V, B-VI with distinct ranges. All except the A-III lineage are identified as natural reservoirs of mammarenaviruses. M. natalensis A-III is found in western Ethiopia and is the only lineage reported in the country. While screening 203 small mammal samples from Dhati Welel National Park for mammarenaviruses, we detected mammarenavirus RNA in nine samples, eight from M. natalensis and one from M. awashensis. A sequence similarity search and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the M. natalensis mitochondrial DNA belongs to the A-III lineage. We characterised the complete virus genome, which showed typical mammarenavirus organisation. Phylogenetic analysis indicated it clusters with Gairo virus found in M. natalensis B-IV in Tanzania, while showing sufficient divergence from other mammarenaviruses to be considered as a new species, for which we proposed the name Dhati Welel. Additional sampling in the M. natalensis A-III phylogeographic range should help determine whether the detection of the virus in M. awashensis represents a local spill-over or if the virus circulates in both Mastomys species.
Large and small rDNA sequences of 41 species of the family Opecoelidae are utilised to produce phylogenetic inference trees, using brachycladioids and lepocreadioids as outgroups. Sequences were newly generated for 13 species. The resulting Bayesian trees show a monophyletic Opecoelidae. The earliest divergent group is the Stenakrinae, based on two species which are not of the type-genus. The next well-supported clade to diverge is constituted of three species of Helicometra Odhner, 1902. Based on this tree and the characters of the egg and uterus, a new subfamily, the Helicometrinae, is erected and defined to include the genera Helicometra, Helicometrina Linton, 1910 and Neohelicometra Siddiqi et Cable, 1960. The subfamily Opecoelinae is found to be monophyletic, but the Plagioporinae is paraphyletic. The single representative of the Opecoelininae (not of the type genus) is nested within a group of deep-sea 'plagioporines'. The two representatives of the Opistholebetidae are embedded within a group of shallow-water 'plagioporine' species. The Opistholebetidae is reduced to subfamily status pro tem as its morphological and biological characteristics are distinctive. This implies that as opecoelid systematics develops with more molecular evidence, several further subfamilies will be recognised. Many of the morphological characters were found to be homoplasious, but the characters defining the Helicometrinae and Opecoelinae, such as filamented eggs, reduced cirrus-sac and uterine seminal receptacle, are closely correlated with the inferred phylogeny., Rodney A. Bray, Thomas H. Cribb, D. Timothy J. Littlewood, Andrea Waeschenbach., and Obsahuje bibliografii
To date, only a few species of Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 have been described from amphibians and reptiles of South Africa, including two species from anuran hosts, three from saurians, one from chelonians, and two from ophidians. Hepatozoon bitis (Fantham, 1925) and Hepatozoon refringens (Sambon et Seligmann, 1907), parasitising Bitis arientans (Merrem) and Pseudoaspis cana (Linnaeus), respectively, were described in the early 1900s and since then there have been no further species of Hepatozoon described from snakes in South Africa. Blood smears, used in peripheral blood haemogregarine stage morphometrics, and whole blood used in molecular characterisation of haemogregarines were collected from the caudal vein of six snakes of three species, namely Philothamnus hoplogaster (Günther), Philothamnus semivariegatus (Smith) and Philothamnus natalensis natalensis (Smith). For comparison, a comprehensive table summarising available information on species of Hepatozoon from African snakes is presented. Haemogregarines found infecting the snakes from the present study were morphologically and molecularly different from any previously described from Africa and are thus here described as Hepatozoon angeladaviesae sp. n. and Hepatozoon cecilhoarei sp. n. Both haemogregarine species were observed to cause considerable dehaemoglobinisation of the host cell, in case of infection with H. angeladaviesae resulting in a characteristic peripheral undulation of the host cell membrane and karyorrhexis. To the authors' knowledge, these are the first haemogregarines parasitising snakes of the genus Philothamnus Smith described using both morphological and molecular characteristics in Africa., Courtney Antonia Cook, Edward Charles Netherlands, Johann van As, Nico Jacobus Smit., and Obsahuje bibliografii