ABSTRACT: A microsporidian infection, due to Alloglugea bufonis nov. gen., nov. sp., is described in the tadpoles and newly metamorphosed toads of Bufo marinus from a lake near Belém, Pará, north Brazil. Xenomas occur either singly in the lamina propria of the intestine, or aggregated into cystic bodies of up to 0.2 mm diameter, which emerge above the intestine surface. The xenoma is bounded by a folded plasmalemma with pinocytotic depressions, and there is a central, enlarged nucleus. Plasmodial stages and elongate meronts differentiate into ribbon-shaped sporonts and single-nucleated sporo-blasts. The spore cytoplasm is invaginated at the posterior end. Spores escape from the mature xenomas into reticuloendothelial cells of the liver, spleen and kidneys of the tadpoles and newly metamorphosed toads, but infection is gradually lost after metamorphosis.

KEY WORDS: Alloglugea bufonis nov. gen., nov. sp. . Microsporidian . Xenoma development . Ultrastructure . Bufo marinus . Brazil

Published in DAO Vol. 23, No. 1 (1995) on September 14
ISSN: 0177-5103. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1995