Coccidian parasites in the endangered Forest Musk Deer (Moschus berezovskii) in China, with the description of six new species of Eimeria (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae).

Fulin Yuan,Donald W Duszynski,Defu Hu,Dong Zhang,Yunyun Gao

doi:10.1051/parasite/2021067

Abstract

We examined 674 fresh fecal samples from forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii Flerov) in Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces, China, for coccidian oocysts and 65% were infected with Eimeria spp. Previously, only four Eimeria species were known from Moschus spp. Here we describe six new Eimeria species. Eimeria aquae n. sp., in 38% deer, has ovoidal oocysts, 32.0 × 23.0 μm, micropyle (M) and scattered polar granules (PGs) of various sizes are present, sometimes oocyst residuum (OR) is present; ovoidal sporocysts, 14.1 × 7.5 μm, with Stieda body (SB) and sporocyst residuum (SR). Eimeria dolichocystis n. sp., in 11% deer; cylindroidal oocysts, 36.6 × 18.9, with a M, 1 PG and OR; ovoidal sporocysts, 13.9 × 7.7, with SB and SR. Eimeria fengxianensis n. sp., in 7% deer; ovoidal oocysts, 36.3 × 25.2, a M and PGs present but OR absent; ovoidal sporocysts, 13.9 × 7.3, with SB and SR. Eimeria helini n. sp. in 24% deer; subspheroidal oocysts, 27.0 × 24.1, OR and PGs often present, but M absent; ovoidal sporocysts, 13.5 × 7.7, with SB and SR. Eimeria kaii n. sp. in 26% deer; ovoidal oocysts, 33.2 × 20.7, M and PGs present, but OR absent; ovoidal sporocysts, 14.4 × 7.5, with SB and SR. Eimeria oocylindrica n. sp., in 17% deer; cylindroidal oocysts, 36.0 × 21.4, M and 1-2 PGs present but OR absent; ovoidal sporocysts, 13.8 × 7.7, with SB and SR. Eimeria dujiangyanensis n. nom. is proposed to replace E. moschus Sha, Zhang, Cai, Wang & Liu, 1994, a junior homonym of E. moschus Matschoulsky, 1947.

Highlights

Moschus is the only genus in the family Moschidae, with seven extant species, which are all called musk deer [6, 16, 21]
These 10 coccidians include the six new species described here from M. berezovskii (E. aquae, E. dolichocystis, E. fengxianensis, E. helini, E. kaii, E. oocylindrica), two species described by Sha et al [19], from M. berezovskii (E. dujiangyanensis, E. jinfengshanenisis), and the first two species that were described by Matschoulsky [15] from M. moschiferus (E. moschus, E. sajanica)
Coccidiosis caused by Eimeria leads to severe enteric disease in captive musk deer, while little is known about these species, even for their classification

Summary

Introduction

Moschus is the only genus in the family Moschidae, with seven extant species, which are all called musk deer [6, 16, 21] They resemble small deer, they are not true deer (Cervidae) because they lack the antlers and facial glands of deer and because they possess only one pair of teats, a gall bladder, a musk gland in males, and a pair of tusk-like teeth that cervids lack [20, 24]. These small deer live in hilly scrub and forested habitat in the mountains of Asia (notably the Himalayas). Its populations were declining rapidly due to exploitation and extensive habitat loss [18, 23, 25] until a captive breeding program for M. berezovskii began in China in 1958 [7, 8, 20, 24] and from that effort, 13 M. berezovskii (8 females, 5 males) were reintroduced back into the wild in 2017 (https://www.sohu.com/a/153114346_ 157267)

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