Hyaloklossia Labbé, 1896 (Alveolata: Apicomplexa) in frogs: Description of a new species and proposing a new subfamily to accommodate these enigmatic parasites

Toshihiro Tokiwa; Shyun Chou; Yuki Tochigi; Kentaro Katayama; Donald W Duszynski

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2021.05.005

Hyaloklossia Labbé, 1896 (Alveolata: Apicomplexa) in frogs: Description of a new species and proposing a new subfamily to accommodate these enigmatic parasites

Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2021 May 28:15:199-207. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2021.05.005. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Authors

Toshihiro Tokiwa¹, Shyun Chou¹, Yuki Tochigi², Kentaro Katayama², Donald W Duszynski³

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonancho, Musashino, Tokyo, 180-0023, Japan.
² Laboratory of Veterinary Physiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonancho, Musashino, Tokyo, 180-0023, Japan.
³ Emeritus Professor of Biology, 76 Homesteads Road, Placitas, New Mexico, 87043, USA.

Abstract

Hyaloklossia Labbé ,1896 (Alveolata: Apicomplexa) is a monotypic genus of renal coccidia found in anurans, particularly in the edible frog Pelophylax kl. esculentus (Amphibia: Anura: Ranidae), distributed in different parts of Europe. Here we propose a new Hyaloklossia species from the Tokyo daruma pond frog, Pelophylax porosus porosus. The coccidium detected in the renal tissue of P. p. porosus shared some morphological characteristics with the type species, Hyaloklossia lieberkuehni (Labbé, 1894), reported from P. kl. esculentus. However, in addition to size differences in several oocyst and sporocyst features between these parasites, phylogenetic analysis of gene fragments from two nuclear ribosomal loci and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1, exposed distinct genetic differences between H. lieberkuehni and our new species. Although our analysis validated the monophyly of Hyaloklossia with some members of the Toxoplasmatinae Biocca, 1957, Cystoisosporinae Frenkel et al., 1987, and Eumonosporinae Chou et al., 2021 (Sarcocystidae Poche, 1913), comparison of genetic differences between Hyaloklossia species from P. p. porosus and H. lieberkuehni revealed the presence of a greater number of polymorphisms than that observed when comparing inter-species (Heydornia spp., Besnoisita spp.) or inter-genus (Toxoplasma vs. Neospora, Neospora vs. Hammondia, and Neospora vs. Heydornia) variabilities among members of the Sarcocystidae. This indicates that Hyaloklossia, as re-erected and defined by Modrý et al. (2001, Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 51, 767-772), with its homoxenous life cycle, requires placement in its own subfamily. Thus, we propose a new subfamily, Hyaloklossiinae n. subfam., to accommodate two species, H. lieberkuehni from Europe and Hyaloklossia kasumienesis n. sp. which we describe here from P. p. porosus in Japan.

Keywords: 18S rRNA; Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1; Hyaloklossia kasumiensis n. sp.; Hyaloklossiinae n. subfam.; Kidney; Morphology; Phylogenetic placement.