A New Record of Hepatozoon sp. Miller, 1908 (Apicomplexa: Adelerina) Infecting the Snake Naja atra (Squamata: Dipsadidae) in China
A New Record of Hepatozoon sp. Miller, 1908 (Apicomplexa: Adelerina) Infecting the Snake Naja atra (Squamata: Dipsadidae) in China
Nianhong Huang, Yan Wu, Yuanyuan Li* and Jinhong Zhao*
Hepatozoon sp. gamonts from Elaphe carinata and Naja atra. Blood smears stained by Giemsa (×1000). (A) the gamont folded back hook-wise at one end, nucleus of the gamont located in the central, infected erythrocytes became slightly hypertrophic; (B) nucleus of the gamont extended into the quarter, nucleus of infected erythrocytes was flatter than uninfected erythrocytes and infected erythrocytes became slightly hypertrophic; (C) the gamont’s both ends were obtuse and bend slightly to one side in the shape of a kidney, nucleus of the gamont located in the center, nucleus of infected erythrocytes was forced to one side of the host cell and flatter than in the uninfected erythrocytes; (D) gamont was outside of the erythrocyte and nucleus of the gamont extended into the quarter. Arrow indicates gamont of Hepatozoon sp.
Phylogenetic tree based on 18SrRNA sequences of Hepatozoon species (NJ).