Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP, DBBVPZ, Setor de Parasitologia, Distrito de Ribeirão Junior, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.
Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Private Bag x6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa.
Acta Parasitol. 2021 Sep;66(3):871-880. doi: 10.1007/s11686-021-00355-x. Epub 2021 Mar 8.
Species of Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 (Hepatozoidae) are blood protozoans with a cosmopolitan distribution and are reported to parasitize a range of vertebrate hosts including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The present study aimed to describe a new species of Hepatozoon (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina: Hepatozoidae) found infecting the sleep snake Dipsas mikanii (Schlegel, 1837) (Squamata: Colubridae: Dipsadinae).
The snake was collected in 2017 at the municipality of Britânia, Goiás State, Brazil. Blood smears were made in order to find blood gametocytes and PCR was performed targeting the 18S rRNA gene.
Microscopy screening of blood smears revealed the presence of intraerythrocytic gamont stages of Hepatozoon sp. in the peripheral blood with a parasitemia of 0.25%. Furthermore, meronts and monozoic cysts were observed in histological sections of the liver from the infected individual. The interspecific divergence of 18S rRNA sequences fragments isolated from D. mikanii had differences (2.39-11.3%) as compared to other sequences of species of Hepatozoon from snakes.
Based on morphological and molecular data, a new species of Hepatozoon infecting D. mikanii from Brazil is described.
Hepatozoon Miller，1908 年（Hepatozoidae）的物种是具有世界性分布的血原生动物，据报道寄生在包括哺乳动物、鸟类、爬行动物和两栖动物在内的多种脊椎动物宿主中。本研究旨在描述一种新的 Hepatozoon 物种（Apicomplexa: Adeleorina: Hepatozoidae），该物种寄生在睡眠蛇 Dipsas mikanii（Schlegel，1837）（有鳞目：Colubridae：Dipsadinae）中。
蛇于 2017 年在巴西戈亚斯州 Britânia 市采集。制作血涂片以寻找血液配子体，并用针对 18S rRNA 基因的 PCR 进行检测。
血液涂片的显微镜检查显示，外周血中存在 Hepatozoon sp. 的红细胞内配子体阶段，寄生虫血症为 0.25%。此外，在受感染个体的肝脏组织学切片中观察到 meronts 和单殖囊。从 D. mikanii 分离的 18S rRNA 序列片段的种间差异（2.39-11.3%）与来自蛇的其他 Hepatozoon 物种的序列不同。
根据形态学和分子数据，描述了一种新的感染巴西 D. mikanii 的 Hepatozoon 物种。
