Life cycle of Eimeria vejdovskyi Pakandl, 1988: electron microscopy study

The endogenous development of the rabbit coccidium Eimeria vejdovskyi was s tudied in SPF rabbits using light and electron microscopy. All endogenous s tages were seen in the ileal epithelium. There were two types of meronts in each of five asexual generations. Type A produced fat, polynucleate merozo ites while type B meronts had slender uninucleate merozoites. First- second - and third-generation meronts were in the crypts. The first meronts were a t the bottom of the crypts, very often in the Paneth cells. The meronts of the fourth generation were in the middle of the villi; the fifth-generation meronts were recorded in the middle and at the tbp of the villi. The prepa tent period was 10 days.