Cook Courtney A, Lawton Scott P, Davies Angela J, Smit Nico J
Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Water Research Group (Ecology), Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North West University, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa.
Parasitology. 2014 Oct;141(12):1611-1620. doi: 10.1017/S003118201400081X.
Research was undertaken to clarify the true taxonomic position of the terrestrial tortoise apicomplexan, (Dias, ). Thin blood films were screened from 275 wild and captive South African tortoises of 6 genera and 10 species between 2009-2011. Apicomplexan parasites within films were identified, with a focus on . Ticks from wild tortoises, especially and were also screened, and sporogonic stages were identified on dissection of adult ticks of both species taken from infected and apparently non-infected tortoises. Parasite DNA was extracted from fixed, Giemsa-stained tortoise blood films and from both fresh and fixed ticks, and PCR was undertaken with two primer sets, HEMO1/HEMO2, and HepF300/HepR900, to amplify parasite 18S rDNA. Results indicated that apicomplexan DNA extracted from tortoise blood films and both species of tick had been amplified by one or both primer sets. 18S rDNA sequences from tortoise blood aligned with those of species of , rather than those of species of or It is recommended therefore that this haemogregarine be re-assigned to the genus , making (Dias, ) the only known currently from any terrestrial chelonian. Ticks are its likely vectors.
开展了研究以明确地龟顶复门原虫（迪亚斯， ）的真正分类地位。在2009年至2011年期间，从275只属于6个属、10个物种的野生和圈养南非陆龟中筛选了薄血膜。对血膜中的顶复门寄生虫进行了鉴定，重点是 。还对野生陆龟身上的蜱虫进行了筛选，尤其是 和 ，并在解剖从感染和明显未感染陆龟身上采集的这两种成年蜱虫时鉴定了孢子生殖阶段。从固定的、经吉姆萨染色的陆龟血膜以及新鲜和固定的蜱虫中提取寄生虫DNA，并使用两组引物HEMO1/HEMO2和HepF300/HepR900进行PCR，以扩增寄生虫18S rDNA。结果表明，从陆龟血膜和两种蜱虫中提取的顶复门DNA已被一组或两组引物扩增。从陆龟血液中获得的18S rDNA序列与 属物种的序列一致，而不是与 属或 属物种的序列一致。因此，建议将这种血簇虫重新归类到 属，使 （迪亚斯， ）成为目前已知的唯一一种来自任何陆栖龟类的 。蜱虫可能是其传播媒介。
