Eimeria palustris is an apicomplexa

Apicomplexa

The Apicomplexa are a large group of protists, most of which possess a unique organelle called apicoplast and an apical complex structure involved in penetrating a host's cell. They are unicellular, spore-forming, and exclusively parasites of animals. Motile structures such as flagella or...

n parasite of the genus Eimeria

Eimeria

Eimeria is a genus of Apicomplexan parasites that includes various species responsible for the poultry disease coccidiosis. The genus is named for the German zoologist Theodor Eimer...

that infects the marsh rice rat

Marsh Rice Rat

The marsh rice rat is a semiaquatic North American rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found mostly in the eastern and southern United States, from New Jersey and Kansas south to Florida and northeasternmost Tamaulipas, Mexico; its range previously extended further west and north, where it may...

 (Oryzomys palustris). It was discovered in 1970 at Tuskegee National Forest

Tuskegee National Forest

The Tuskegee National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Macon County, Alabama, just north of Tuskegee and west of Auburn. The topography is level to moderately sloping, with broad ridges with stream terraces and broad floodplains....

, Macon County

Macon County, Alabama

Macon County is a county in the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a member of the United States Senate from North Carolina. Developed for cotton plantation agriculture in the nineteenth century, it is one of the counties in Alabama within the Black Belt of the South.As...

, Alabama. A different Eimeria, Eimeria kinsellai

Eimeria kinsellai

Eimeria kinsellai is an apicomplexan parasite of the genus Eimeria that infects the marsh rice rat . It was discovered in 1970 at Paynes Prairie, Alachua County, Florida. A different Eimeria, Eimeria palustris, has been found in Alabama marsh rice rats...

, has been found in Florida marsh rice rats. E. palustris differs from other Eimeria found in rice rats, such as Eimeria couesii

Eimeria couesii

Eimeria couesii is an apicomplexan parasite of the genus Eimeria that infects the intestine of the rice rat Oryzomys couesi in Mexico. It has an oocyst residuum and Stieda bodies, structures that are absent in some other Eimeria....

, Eimeria oryzomysi, Eimeria ojastii, and E. kinsellai, in anatomical details. Its specific epithet refers to that of its type host, Oryzomys palustris.

Literature cited

• Barnard, W.P., Ernst, J.V. and Stevens, R.O. 1971. Eimeria palustris sp. n. and Isospora hammondi sp. n. (Coccidia: Eimeriidae) from the marsh rice rat, Oryzomys palustris (Harlan) (subscription required). The Journal of Parasitology 57(6):1293–1296.