A novel myxozoan parasite of terrestrial mammals: description of Soricimyxum minuti sp. n. (Myxosporea) in pygmy shrew Sorex minutus from Hungary

Abstract

Abstract:As part of a biodiversity study in northwestern Hungary, we conducted a parasitological survey of small mammals. In both common shrews (Sorex araneus Linnaeus) and pygmy shrews (Sorex minutus Linnaeus), we found myxospores of a species of Soricimyxum Prunescu, Prunescu, Pucek et Lom, 2007 (Myxosporea) and plasmodia in the bile ducts within the liver. Spores from both species of shrewswere morphologically and morphometrically indistinguishable, but differed in their SSU rRNA gene sequences by 3.3%. We identified spores and developmental stages from the common shrew as Soricimyxum fegati Prunescu, Prunescu, Pucek et Lom, 2007, based on morphometric data and DNA sequence similarity. Spores from the pygmy shrew were only 96.7% similar to S. fegati, hence we identified them as a novel myxosporean Soricimyxum minuti sp. n. This is only the second myxosporean parasite species described from mammals.

Morphological plasticity in Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882: a taxonomic dilemma case and renaming of a parasite species of the common carp

“…Later on, myxozoan systematists resorted to also using host preference/tissue specificity to aid in resolving taxonomic problems, with the awareness that most myxozoans tend to be oioxenic and have preference for certain developmental sites [ 3 – 5 ]. Moreover, the molecular methods involving genetic markers have boomed in the past decade and provided a more comprehensive solution to resolving morphologically indistinguishable species by taking advantage of their fidelity and quantifiability [ 4 , 6 ]. Taken together, the above three criteria (spore morphology, biological traits and DNA data) have constituted a well-accepted framework for myxozoan classification [ 7 ].…”