The Coccidian Genus Dorisa

Compiled by
Donald W. Duszynski1, Steve J. Upton2, and Lee Couch1

1Department of Biology, University of New Mexico
2Division of Biology, Kansas State University

Supported by NSF-PEET DEB 9521687

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Copyright 1998. Material at this site is intellectual property and is protected by the International Berne Convention Treaty and by copyright laws of the United States of America. Permission hereby is granted by the authors for individuals to make copies of any portion of this work for personal or classroom use, without fee, providing that the information is not distributed for profit or for commerical advantage. Any use of this information for scientific purposes, such as contained in taxonomic review articles, books, book chapters, or monographs, MUST be accompanied by an appropriate credit citing the above authors by name and acknowledging NSF grant PEET DEB 9521687. Any use of this information for profit or other commercial gain must be negotiated with the authors.

Updated: 2 May 1999
Comments: eimeria@unm.edu (Duszynski)
or coccidia@ksu.edu (Upton)


The genus Dorisa Levine, 1980 is characterized by oocysts containing a variable number of sporocysts, each sporocyst containing eight sporozoites. Most species occur in avian or rodent hosts. At one time, many species were placed within the coccidian genus Dorisiella Ray, 1930, originally created for a parasite of the marine polychaete, Scolelepis fuliginosa. However, Levine (1980a) created a new genus, Dorisa Levine, 1980, for those species occurring in vertebrates. In the latter genus a definate oocyst wall occurs whereas in the former no discernible oocysts are produced.

The validity of all members of the genus Dorisa is questionable. Some species appear to represent isosporan oocysts that failed to sporulate properly, whereas for others it seems the authors may have simply mistook the refractile bodies for sporozoites.

Dorisa aethiopsaris (Chakravarty & Kar, 1947) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella aethiopsaris Chakravarty & Kar, 1947
Host: Acridotheres fuscus (Passeriformes)
References: Chakravarty & Kar 1947; Levine 1980a; Mandal 1970
It seems likely that this species is a result of improper oocyst sporulation

Dorisa arizonensis (Levine, Ivens, & Kruidenier, 1955) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella arizonensis Levine, Ivens, & Kruidenier, 1955
Host: Neotoma lepida (Rodentia)
References: Levine 1980a; Levine et al. 1955
It seems likely that this species is an avian isosporan that sporulated improperly, ingested by the rodent

Dorisa bengalensis (Bandyopadhyay & Ray, 1982) Levine & Ivens, 1987

Synonym: Dorisiella bangalensis Bandyopadhyay & Ray, 1982, lapsus
Synonym: Dorisiella bengalensis Bandyopadhyay & Ray, 1982
Host: Funambulus pennanti (Rodentia)
References: Bandyopadhyay & Ray 1982; Levine & Ivens 1987
It seems likely that this species is an avian isosporan that sporulated improperly, ingested by the rodent

Dorisa chakravartyi (Ray & Sarkar, 1967) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella chakrabarteyi Ray & Sarkar, 1967
Hosts: Lonchura malabarica, L. punctulata (Passeriformes)
References: Ray & Sarkar 1967; Levine 1980a; Pellerdy 1974
It seems likely that this species is an avian isosporan that sporulated improperly

Dorisa graculae (Mandal, Mandal, Chakraborty, Bhowmik, Sarkar, & Roy, 1984) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella graculae Mandal, Mandal, Chakraborty, Bhowmik, Sarkar, & Roy, 1984
Hosts: Gracula religiosa (Passeriformes)
References: Levine 1980a; Mandal et al. 1984
It seems likely that this species is an avian isosporan that sporulated improperly

Dorisa hareni (Chakravarty & Kar, 1944) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella hareni Chakravarty & Kar, 1944
Hosts: Amandava amandava, A. subflava, Lonchura malabarica, L. punctulata, Munia articapilis, M. malacca,
M. munia, M. rubronigra, Uroloncha malabarica, U. punctulata (Passeriformes)
References: Bhattacharya & Chakravarty 1976; Chakravarty & Kar, 1944; Gottschalk 1972; Levine 1980a; Mandal 1970
It seems likely that these are avian isosporans that sporulated improperly

Dorisa harpia (Sinha 1979) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella harpia Sinha 1979
Synonym: Dorisiella sp. Sinha & Das Gupta, 1978
Hosts: Harpiocephalus harpia lasyurus (Chiroptera)
References: Levine 1980b; Sinha 1979; Sinha & Das Gupta 1978
It seems likely that this species is an isosporan that was misidentified

Dorisa hoarei (Yakimoff & Gousseff, 1935) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella hoarei Yakimoff & Gousseff, 1935
Host: Elaphe quatuorlineata sauromates "Four-lined snake" (Serpentes: Colubridae)
References: Levine 1980a; Yakimoff & Gousseff 1935
All indications are that conditions were insufficient for proper sporulation.
Thus, the oocysts with 6 or 8 sporozoites represent isosporan oocysts that failed to sporulate properly.
It seems likely that the true host is a passeriform bird and that the improperly sporulated oocysts are a pseudoparasite.

Dorisa indica Bandyopadhyaya & Bhattacharjee, 1986

Host: Rattus rattus (Rodentia)
Reference: Bandyopadhyaya & Bhattacharjee 1986
It seems likely that this species is an avian isosporan that sporulated improperly and was ingested by the rodent.

Dorisa mandali (Ray & Sarkar, 1967) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella mandali Ray & Sarkar, 1967
Host: Zosterops palpebrosa (Passeriformes)
References: Levine 1980a; Ray & Sarkar 1967
It seems likely that this species is an isosporan that was misidentified.

Dorisa passeries (Ray & Sarkar, 1967) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella passeris Ray & Sarkar, 1967
Host: Passer domesticus (Passeriformes)
References: Levine 1980a; Ray & Sarkar 1967
It seems likely that this species is an isosporan that was misidentified.

Dorisa rayi (Bray, 1964) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella rayi Bray, 1964
Host: Spermestes cucullatus (Passeriformes )
References: Bray 1964; Levine 1980a
It seems likely that this species is an isosporan that was misidentified.

Dorisa vagabundae (Mandal & Chakravarty, 1963) Levine, 1980

Synonym: Dorisiella vagabundae Mandal & Chakravarty, 1963
Host: Crypsirina vagabunda (Passeriformes )
References: Levine 1980a; Mandal 1966, 1970; Mandal & Chakravarty 1963
It seems likely that this species is an isosporan that was misidentified.

References

Bandyopadhyay, S. and Ray, R. 1982. On a new coccidium, Dorisiella bangalensis, from an Indian palm squirril, Funambulus pennanti Wroughton. Indian Journal of Parasitology 6: 265-266.

Bandyopadhyay, S., Ray, R., and Bhattacharjee, A. 1986. On the occurrence of a new coccidium, Dorisa indica sp. n. in a common house rat, Rattus rattus arboreus (Horsfield) from India. Acta Protozoologica 25: 115-118.

Bhattacharya, A. and Chakravarty, M.M. 1976. Cytochemical investigations on Dorisiella hareni Chakravarty and Kar, 1944, a coccidian (Sporozoa: Eimeriidae) parasite of the spotted munia, Lonchura punctulata (Linnaeus). Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Calcutta 29: 109-123.

Bray, R.S. 1964. A check-list of the parasitic protozoa of West Africa with some notes on their classification. Bulletin de l'Institut Francais d'Afrique Noire A 26: 238-315.

Chakravarty, M. and Kar, A.B. 1944. Studies on the coccidia of Indian birds. II. Observations on several species of coccidia of the sub-families Cyclosporinae and Eimeriinae. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences B 20: 102-114.

Chakravarty, M. and Kar, A.B. 1946. XXVII. A study on the coccidia of Indian birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society (Edinburgh) B 62: 225-233.

Gottschalk, C. von. 1972. Beitrag zur Faunistik der Vogelkokzidien Thuringens und Sachsens. Beitraege zur Vogelkunde, Leipzig 18: 61- 69.

Levine, N.D. 1980a. Dorisa n. gen. (Protozoa, Apicomplexa, Eimeriidae). Journal of Parasitology 66: 11.

Levine, N.D. 1980b. Some corrections of coccidian (Apicomplexa: Protozoa) nomenclature. Journal of Parasitology 66: 830-834.

Levine, N.D. and Ivens, V.R. 1987. Corrections in the names of rodent coccidia (Apicomplexa: Coccidiasina). Journal of Protozoology 34: 371.

Levine, N.D., Ivens, V.R., and Kruidenier, F.L. 1955. Dorisiella arizonensis n. sp., a coccidium from the desert woodrat, Neotoma lepida. Journal of Protozoology 2: 52-53.

Mandal, A.K. 1966. Studies on some aspects of avian coccidia [Protozoa: Sporozoa] 5. The effects of some physical and chemical agents on the oocysts of Dorisiella vagabundae Mandal and Chakravarty. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Calcutta 19: 23-29.

Mandal, A.K. 1970. Studies on some aspects of avian coccidia (Protozoa, Sporozoa). Part IV. Occurrence and distribution of coccidian parasites in Indian birds. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 63: 23-39.

Mandal, A.K. 1976. Coccidia of Indian Vertebrates. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 70: 39-120.

Mandal, A.K. and Chakravarty, M.M. 1963. Studies on some aspects of avian coccidia (Protozoa: Sporozoa). 1. A new species of Dorisiella from the Indian tree pie, Crypsirina vagabunda (Latham). Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Calcutta 16: 147-150.

Mandal, T., Mandal, D., Chakraborty, C., Bhowmik, S., Sarkar, P., and Roy, R. 1984. Dorisiella graculae sp. n. from a hill mynah Gracula religiosa Linn. of Darjeeling hills. Acta Protozoologica 23: 179-181.

Ray, H.N. and Sarkar, A.C. 1967. On some new coccidia from the Indian passerine birds, Zosterops palpebrosa (Temm.), Lonchura malabarica (Linn.), L. punctulata (Linn.) and Passer domesticus (Linn.). Proceedings of the 54th Indian Science Congress 54: 448-449.

Sinha, C.K. 1979. Dorisiella harpia n. sp. from hairy-winged bat. Indian Journal of Parasitology 3: 173-175.

Sinha, C.K. and Das Gupta, B. 1978. On the occurrence of Dorisiella in a Himalayan bat, Harpiocephalus harpia lasyurus (Hodgson). Proceedings of the Asian Congress of Parasitology and Indian Society of Parasitology, Haffkine Institute, Bombay, (Abstract IV-9), pg. 188.

Yakimoff, W.L. and Gousseff, F.F. 1935. Une coccidie de serpent. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparee 13: 28-31.