Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:56:28.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An encapsulated haemogregarine from the evileye pufferfish in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2001

N.J. Smit
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa
A.J. Davies
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE. E-mail: ajdavies.russell@kingston.ac.uk

Abstract

Developmental stages of a haemogregarine were found within polychromatocytes and erythrocytes in Giemsa-stained blood smears from six evileye pufferfish (Amblyrhynchotes honckenii) caught at Koppie Alleen in the De Hoop Nature Reserve, South Africa. This unusual haemogregarine, Haemogregarina (sensu lato) koppiensis sp. nov., was characterized by encapsulated gamonts with recurved tails, features more common in haemogregarines infecting amphibian and reptilian erythrocytes than in those from fish. Haemogregarina koppiensis is only the third species of fish haemogregarine to have been described from South Africa.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2001 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)