THE TELOSPORASIDA AND THE COCCIDIA PROPER 



183 



in the Sudan. Rac and Willson (1959) re- 

 ported it in Australia. 



Morphology : Only the schizonts and 

 merozoites of this form have been des- 

 cribed. The schizonts occur in the con- 

 nective tissue of the abomasal wall. They 

 are 300 to 700 ^i long and 300 to 465 |i wide, 

 and are easily visible to the naked eye as 

 whitish nodules. The host cell nucleus is 

 flattened and greatly enlarged. The ma- 

 ture schizonts are filled with many thou- 

 sands of crescent-shaped merozoites 

 about 4. 5 to 7. 5 ;i long and 1. 2 to 2. Opt 

 wide. One end of the merozoites is 

 rounded and the other pointed. The nucleus 

 is near the broad end, and a heavily stain- 

 ing granule is in the center. 



These schizonts are undoubtedly 

 those of a species of Eimeria presently 

 known from its oocysts alone, but we do 

 not know which species it is. Reichenow 

 (1940) said that it was very probably E. 

 intricata. Becker (1956) agreed and, since 

 the specific name gilrnthi has priority, 

 synonymized E. intricata with it. How- 

 ever, Kotlan, Pelle'rdy and Verse'nyi 

 (1951, 1951a) found two types of giant 

 schizonts in sheep. One type, which 

 measured 64 to 256 by 48 to 179/i and con- 

 tained straight, slender merozoites 10 to 

 12 |i long, they found to be those of E.parva. 

 The other type of schizont was larger and 

 contained merozoites about 16 fx long which 

 were bent like a hoe at one end ("hacken- 

 formigen"). These they said were those 

 ofE. intricata. However, they saw both 

 schizonts in the small intestine and not in 

 the abomasum, and they used only 2 lambs 

 in their work. Hence, it is felt best for 

 the present not to attempt to assign the 

 gilruthi schizonts to any other species of 

 Eimeria. 



Geographic Distribution: 

 America, Europe (Germany). 



North 



Prevalence : This species is rela- 

 tively uncommon in sheep. Christensen 

 (1938a) found in in 10% of 100 sheep from 

 Maryland and New York. Jacob (1943) 

 found it in 1% of 100 sheep in Germany. 

 Honess (1942) remarked that it was more 

 frequent and numerous in bighorn sheep 

 than in domestic sheep in Wyoming. 



Morphology : This species has been 

 described by Christensen (1938a). The 

 oocysts are piriform or shaped like a 

 stout, broad-shouldered urn, with the mi- 

 cropyle and micropylar cap at the broad 

 end; small oocysts are often bluntly ellip- 

 soidal. The oocysts are 22 to 35 by 17 to 

 25^1 with a mean of 29.4 by 20.9 fi. Their 

 length-width ratio is 1 . 2 to 1 . 7 with a 

 mean of 1.41. The micropyle is distinct, 

 3 to 5jj, in diameter. The micropylar cap 

 is prominent, 5 to lQ\i wide and 1 to 2. 5ji 

 high with a mean of 7. 5 by l.l \x; it is 

 shaped like a broad truncated cone with a 

 flat or slightly convex top, and is easily 

 dislodged. The oocyst wall is transparent, 

 pale brownish-yellow to yellowish-brown, 

 and composed of 2 layers, the outer one 

 being transparent, pale yellow to yellow- 

 ish-green, and half as thick as the inner, 

 heavier layer. The oocyst wall is lined 

 by a membrane. An oocyst polar granule 

 and oocyst residuum are absent. The 

 sporocysts are ovoid, with a sporocyst 

 residuum. The sporozoites have a re- 

 tractile globule at each end. The sporula- 

 tion time is 8 to 4 days. 



Life Cycle : Unknown. 



Pathogenesis : Unknown. 



EIMERIA GRANULOSA 

 CHRISTENSEN, 1938 



Hosts : Sheep, Rocky Mountain big- 

 horn sheep. 



Location : Unknown. Oocysts found 

 in feces. 



EIMERIA INTRICATA 

 SPIEGL, 1925 



Hosts : Sheep, Rocky Mountain big- 

 horn sheep, moufflon, roe deer. 



Location: Uncertain, presumably 

 abomasum and small intestine. 



