Discovery of the life cycle of Sarcocystis lacertae Babudieri, 1932 (Apicomplexa : Sarcocystidae), with a species redescription

Oocysts/sporocysts of Sarcocystis sp. were found in the intestinal contents of the smooth snake, Coronella austriaca Laurenti. Common voles Microtus a rvalis (Pallas), bank voles Clethrionomys glareolus (Schreber), green lizar ds Lacerta viridis (Laurenti), and common wall lizards Podarcis muralis (La urenti) were experimentally inoculated as potential intermediate hosts. Onl y common wall lizards were found to be susceptible intermediate hosts. Tran sparent, macroscopically hardly visible sarcocysts found in tail striated m uscles of lizards were 480 (390-640) x 210(190-230) mu m in size 72 days po st-infection. Using the light microscopy, the sarcocyst wall was about 1 mu m thick with an apparent layer of villi approx. 2 mu m thick. Ultrastructu rally, the primary cyst wall was characterised by spine-like villar protrus ions up to 2.5 mu m in length and 0.5 mu m in diameter. Based on sarcocyst morphology and experimental data, the discovered Sarcocystis species is sug gested to be conspecific with Sarcocystis lacertae Babudieri, 1932. A redes cription of Sarcocystis lacertae is presented in this study.