The Coccidian Genus Ovivora

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

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


The coccidian genus Ovivora Mackinnon & Ray, 1937 is a monotypic, homoxenous genus infecting the ova of echuroids. Oocysts contain many sporocysts, each sporocyst with up to 12 sporozoites. Traditionally, the genus has been placed within the heteroxenous family Aggregatidae Labbe, 1899, perhaps because the parasite infects a marine invertebrate.

Ovivora thalassemae (Lankester, 1885) Mackinnon & Ray, 1937

Synonym: Monocystis thalassemae Lankester, 1885
Host: Thalassema neptuni (Echurida)
References: Lankester 1885; Mackinnon & Ray 1929, 1937

Ovivora (?) (Leger, 1897) species inquirendae

Synonym: Pseudoklossia pelseneeri (Leger, 1897) Leger & Duboscq, 1915
Synonym: Hyaloklossia pelseneeri Leger, 1897
Host: Donax sp., Tellina sp. (Mollusca)
References: Debaisieux 1919, 1922; Leger 1897; Leger & Duboscq 1915
This species has 4-6 sporozoites per sporocyst and does not belong in the genus Pseudoklossia where it has traditionally been placed.

References

Debaisieux, P. 1919. Quelques protozoaires parasites des chitons et des patelles. Comptes Rendus Societe de Biologie 82: 1400-1402.

Debaisieux, P. 1922. Note sur deux coccidies des mollusques: Pseudoklossia (?) patellae et P. chitonis. Cellule 32: 233-246.

Lankester, E.R. 1881. On Thalassema neptuni Gaertner. Zoologischer Anzeiger 54: 350-356.

Leger, L. 1897. Sur la presence des coccidies chez les mollusques lamellibranches. Comptes Rendus Societe de Biologie 49: 987-988.

Leger, L., and Duboscq, O. 1915. Pseudoklossia glomerata n. g. n. sp., coccidie de lamellibranche. Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Generale 55: 7-16.

McKinnon, D.L., and Ray, H.N. 1929. Lankester's Gregarine' from the eggs of Thalassema neptuni. Nature 124: 877.

McKinnon, D.L., and Ray, H.N. 1937. A coccidian from the eggs of Thalassema neptuni Gaertner. Parasitology 29: 457-468.