A description of two new species of coccidia (Apicomplexa : Eimeriidae) from African reptiles with nomenclatural corrections for two Caryospora and one Eimeria species from snakes

Two new species of coccidian parasites are described from African reptiles. Oocysts of Eimeria foulshami sp. n. from the plated lizard Gerrohosaurus m ajor bottegoi Del Prate of Sudan are ellipsoidal, 24.1 x 14.9 (23-26.5 x 14 -17.8) mum with a bilayered, colourless oocyst wall and lack polar granules . The ellipsoidal sporocysts average 8.6 x 4.6 (7-10.6 x 4.4-7) mum and pos sess a prominent, globular, sporocyst residuum. Oocysts of Caryospora regen tensis sp. n. from the green mamba Dendroaspis viridis Hallowell of Kenya a re spherical to subspherical, 16.8 x 16.4 (16-17.6 x 15-17.2) mum with a bi layered oocyst wall and a single polar granule. The ellipsoidal sporocysts average 13.0 x 10.3 (10.2-14 x 9.2-11) mum and possess a Stieda and substie da body and a prominent globular sporocyst residuum. Oocysts of Caryospora legeri Hoare, 1933 are reported from a hissing sand snake, Psammophis sibil ans sibilans L, from Nigeria, representing a new geographical record. The o ocysts are slightly larger than the type, but otherwise identical. Caryospa ra psammophi Bray, 1960 and C. hermae Bray, 1960 from Psammophis sibilans p hillipsi, oocysts of which ale morphologically similar to and overlap in di mensions with C. legeri Hoare, 1933, are synonymised with the latter specie s. Elimeria samiae Iskander et Tadros, 1979 is emended to E. samyadeli to r eflect the gender of the person the species was named after and because E, sa,ni is preoccupied. In addition to these findings, Eimeria bohemi Modry, Slapeta et Koudela, 2000 and oocysts of an unidentified spherical Eimeria s p. are reported from Chamaeleo dilepis dilepis Leach from Cameroon.