ABSTRACT: Goussia hyperolisi n. sp. is described from the guts of Hyperolis viridiflavus tadpoles taken from a fish pond at Sagana, Kenya. Infection expired as metamorphosis approached. No infection could be found in post-metamorphosed and older frogs. Infected tissues were studied by light and electron microscopy. Endogenous stages, meronts and gamonts were in cells of the gut epithelium within a parasitophorous vacuole with folded rims. In the macrogamonts, small bodies with a dense core were the only structures reminiscent of wall-forming bodies. The wall membranes which formed following zygote formation detached and merged with the parasitophorous vacuole wall to form the oocyst wall. During the regression of the infection, the one or several sporulated oocysts in the infected host cell, an epithelial or intraepithelial leukocyte, became embedded in a multilaminated matrix, the yellow body, and were eventually destroyed.

KEY WORDS: Goussia hyperolisi n. sp. · Coccidia · Hyperolis viridiflavus · Kenya · Tadpoles · Yellow bodies

Published in DAO Vol. 31, No. 2 (1997) on November 20
ISSN: 0177-5103. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1997