Sarcocystis stenodactylicolubris n. sp., a new sarcosporidian coccidium with a snake-gecko heteroxenous life cycle

Oocysts/sporocysts of Sarcocystis sp. measuring 9.7 (9-10) x 7.6 (7-8) mu m were found in the intestinal contents of the Dahl's whip snake Coluber naj adum. Of wide spectrum of experimentally inoculated hosts, only species of the family Gekkonidae - Ptyodactylus guttatus and Stenodactylus grandiceps - were found to be susceptible intermediate hosts. Transparent, barely Visi ble sarcocysts found in tail, limbs and tongue striated muscles of the geck oes were 175-200 mu m x 35-50 mu m in size at 78 DPI. Ultrastructurally, th e primary cyst wall was characteristic by spine-like villar protrusions up to 800 nm long, 200-250 nm in diameter at their bose, tapering to thinner a pex. Protrusions appear typically lobular or irregular in the cross-section s, Back-transmission from P. guttatus to Coluber rogersi leaded to oocysts/ sporocysts excretion since 38 days past infection. Based on sarcocyst morph ology and experimental data, Sarcocystis stenodactylicolubris is apparently a new species Based on obtained and already published results, Sarcosporid ia parasitising colubrid snakes as definitive hosts ore suggested to be fam ily specific on the level of their intermediate host.