Redescription and new locality record of Choleoeimeria turcicus from the gallbladder of Hemidactylus turcicus in Egypt, with notes on its endogenous development.

Upton et al. J Protozool 35:24-25, 1988 originally described Eimeria turcicus from the gallbladder of the Mediterranean gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, in the USA. Shortly after establishing the genus Choleoeimeria, Paperna and Landsberg S Afr J Zool 24:345-355, 1989 transferred E. turcicus to this genus, renaming it as Choleoeimeria turcicus. This paper reports the findings of a survey of coccidian parasites of lizards in Egypt, during which tetrasporocystic oocysts were reported from the gallbladder of H. turcicus. Based on the oocysts' morphological and morphometric characteristics and the same host, it can be deduced for the first time that the present species is conspecific with E. turcicus. In the present study, the gallbladder was the sole site for the endogenous development and no endogenous stages were noticed in the intestine. The endogenous stages induce hypertrophy and displacement of the infected cells from the original biliary epithelium to form a prolonged and branching outgrowth. We therefore followed Paperna and Landsberg S Afr J Zool 24:345-355, 1989 and considered the biliary coccidium recorded in this study to be a member of the genus Choleoeimeria. This represents a new locality record for C. turcicus, which was previously known in the USA and Israel.