Black-spotted pond frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus as a new host for the renal coccidian genus Hyaloklossia (Alveolata: Apicomplexa)

Toshihiro Tokiwa; Shyun Chou; Riona Morizane; Natsuhiko Yoshikawa

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2022.02.003

Black-spotted pond frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus as a new host for the renal coccidian genus Hyaloklossia (Alveolata: Apicomplexa)

Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2022 Feb 4:17:194-198. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2022.02.003. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Toshihiro Tokiwa¹, Shyun Chou¹, Riona Morizane¹, Natsuhiko Yoshikawa²

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 Department of Zoology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, 4-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0005, Japan.

Abstract

Hyaloklossia Labbé, 1896 (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) is a renal coccidium that infects anuran species. The genus consists of two species: H. lieberkuehni, recorded from Pelophylax kl. esculentus, Pelophylax ridibundus, and Rana temporaria in Europe; and H. kasumiensis, recorded from Pelophylax porosus porosus in Japan. However, there have been no reports of Hyaloklossia in the other anurans in Japan. On June 2021, we examined a total of 58 adult frogs comprising 2 P. p. porosus, 23 Pelophylax nigromaculatus, 8 Rana japonica, 3 Glandirana rugosa (Ranidae), 13 Fejervarya kawamurai (Dicroglossidae), and 9 Buergeria buergeri (Rhacophoridae) for infection by Hyaloklossia. Microscopic examination of kidney tissues revealed a high infection incidence of 47.8% (11/23) in P. nigromaculatus, but the other frog species were negative for Hyaloklossia. Morphological and molecular analyses using nuclear ribosomal and mitochondrial genes confirmed the infective species as H. kasumiensis. This is a new host record for H. kasumiensis.

Keywords: Anuran; Apicomplexa; Coccidia; Hyaloklossia; Kidney; Pelophylax.