An integrative assessment ofcf.(Apicomplexa: Dactylosomatidae) fromwater frogs

Source: PubMed Central Open Access, NCBI / U.S. National Library of Medicine

While various haemoparasites have been reported from anuran hosts, this study provides the first published record of dactylosomatid parasites (Dactylosomatidae Jakowska & Nigrelli, 1955 emend. Levine, 1971) in frogs from Slovakia. Of the 239 anurans screened for apicomplexans, 67 individuals belonging to three species of water frogs,(Linnaeus, 1758),(Pallas, 1771), and(Camerano, 1882) were found to be infected with haemogregarines of the genusLabbé, 1894. Our results demonstrate that the haemogregarine found in all three species of water frogs, collected from three different localities in western Slovakia, represents a single taxon that morphologically resembles the type species,(Kruse, 1890). Based on comprehensive morphometric, morphological, and molecular data from newly collected isolates fromfrogs, including the type host, we provide an integrative assessment ofcf.. We also conducted molecular screening of dipterans collected from the study sites, which could serve as potential vectors of the parasite, but no representatives ofwere detected in any of the examined specimens.