Two New Species and Temporal Changes in the Prevalence of Eimerians in a Free-Living Population of Townsend's Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus townsendii) in Idaho

Eimeria Species (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) From Arctic Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus Parryii) and Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus Hudsonicus) in Alaska and in Siberia, Russia

“…Oocysts were isolated by flotation in saturated sucrose solution (specific gravity ϭ 1.2) and identified with oil immersion lenses on a compound microscope with bright field and Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy. Standardized abbreviations for oocyst and sporocyst characters, with a single exception (sporozoites ϭ SZ), are those recommended by Wilber et al (1998), including oocyst characters length (L) and width (W)-their ranges and ratio (L/W)-micropyle (M), residuum (OR), and polar granules (PG) and sporocyst characters length (L), width (W)-their ranges and ratio (L/W)-stieda body (SB), substieda body (SSB), parastieda body (PSB), residuum (SR), refractile bodies (RB), and nucleus (N). Measurements of standard morphologic parameters were made with an ocular micrometer and are reported as an average (m) followed by the range in parentheses.…”

“…Prevalence: One of three (33%) in type host; 76 of 123 (63%) Cynomys gunnisoni from Utah (Thomas and Stanton, 1994); 43 of 61 (71%) Cynomys leucurus and 25 of 39 (64%) Cynomys ludovicianus from Wyoming (Seville, 1997); 2 of 2 (100%) Spermophilus beecheyi from California (Henry, 1932); 211 of 1,007 (21%) and 36 of 69 (52%) Spermophilus elegans from Wyoming (Shults et al, 1990); 36 of 100 (36%) Spermophilus richardsonii from Alberta, Canada (Seville and Stanton, 1993); 5-80% Spermophilus townsendii in Idaho (Wilber et al, 1994); 6 of 81 (7%) Spermophilus undulatus from Kazakhstan (Matschoulsky, 1949); 4 of 7 (57%) Spermophilus variegatus from Utah (Thomas and Stanton, 1994); and 20 of 90 (22%) and 4 of 46 (9%) S.…”

“…Synonyms: Seven (see Wilber et al, 1998). Type host: Spermophilus lateralis (Say, 1823), golden-mantled ground squirrel.…”

“…Other hosts: Twenty-five species in the genera Cynomys (3 species), Marmota (5), and Spermophilus (17) (see Wilber et al, 1998); S. parryii (this study).…”

“…They are sciurid rodents that include 5 genera and ϳ82 species adapted to a predominately fossorial-terrestrial existence (Wilson and Reeder, 1993). Wilber et al (1998) reviewed all published literature on the coccidia known from marmotine rodents and recognized and provided descriptions for 26 valid Eimeria species.…”