ABSTRACT
Coccidian parasites (Protista: Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) commonly infect reptiles, and to a lesser degree, amphibians. The family Eimeriidae includes at least 18 genera and 3 of them, Caryospora, Eimeria, and Isospora have been reported previously from various Arkansas herpetofauna. Over the past 3 decades, our community collaborative effort has provided a great deal of information on these parasites found in amphibians and reptiles of Arkansas. Here, we provide a summary of all coccidians reported from herptiles of the state as well as provide 2 new state records for coccidians from non-native Mediterranean geckos, Hemidactylus turcicus.
ABSTRACT
We collected 50 three-toed box turtles (Terrapene carolina triunguis) from 9 counties of Arkansas and 4 counties of Oklahoma, and examined their feces for coccidial parasites. Nine of 24 (38%) turtles from Arkansas and 8 of 26 (31%) from Oklahoma were found to be passing oocysts of Eimeria ornata. This represents two new geographic distributional records for this coccidian. Measurements of individual isolates of E. ornata as well as morphological characteristics are provided with comparison to its original description and to another Terrapene coccidian, Eimeria carri. In addition, we noted an adelid pseudoparasite being passed by a single T. c. triunguis from Oklahoma that likely represents a parasite of arthropods.
