Folia Parasitologica最新文献

{"title":"A new genus and three new species of tapeworms (Cestoda: Onchoproteocephalidea) in Erythrolamprus snakes (Colubridae: Dipsadinae) in South America.","authors":"Alain de Chambrier, Tomas Scholz","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2026.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The species diversity of reptile parasites in the New World, including South America, remains poorly understood, and this also applies to tapeworms (Cestoda: Onchoproteocephalidea). Only 17 species of the non-monophyletic genus Ophiotaenia La Rue, 1911 have been recorded in reptiles in the Neotropical Region. In this paper, three new species are described from dipsadine snakes of the genus Erythrolamprus Boie (Colubridae) in Brazil and Paraguay, and a new genus, Penetrocestus, is proposed to accommodate these tapeworms that penetrate the intestinal wall of their hosts. The new genus differs from other proteocephalids parasitising snakes by the presence of a large apical glandular organ, which is larger than the suckers, and a large vaginal sphincter lined with a thick layer of chromophilic cells. Penetrocestus gen. n. is also characterised by a long and wide region ('metascolex') posterior to the scolex and a well-developed inner longitudinal musculature, which is weakly developed in most proteocephalids parasitising Neotropical snakes. Ophiotaenia joanae (de Chambrier et Paulino, 1997) from Xenodon neuwiedii Günther (Colubridae) in Brazil is transferred to Penetrocestus as its type species and as a new combination. Penetrocestus gorgonae sp. n. from Erythrolamprus aesculapii (Linnaeus) in Brazil, Penetrocestus jaegeri sp. n. from Erythrolamprus jaegeri (Günther) in Paraguay, and Penetrocestus tristani sp. n. from Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus (Wied-Neuwied) in Paraguay differ from Penetrocestus joanae (de Chambrier et Paulino, 1997) comb. n. and from each other by the position of the metascolex, width of the scolex, morphology of the terminal (distal) portion of the vagina, and the number of testes, as summarised in the key to their identification. The phylogenetic relationships of the new species are unknown, as they were collected more than 35 years ago and no tissues were fixed in ethanol for genetic characterisation, but the new data support the assumption of strict host specificity of reptilian tapeworms in the Neotropical Region.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148867145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Host switching via rare sex: Oncorhynchus mykiss as a vector in fusion of three Gyrodactylus salaris genomes into a sexual-clonal population on a landlocked Salmo salar (Monogenea, Platyhelminthes).","authors":"Jaakko Lumme, Jussi Kuusela, Marek Zietara, Evgeny Ieshko, Dariya Lebedeva, Julia Barskaya","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2026.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The monogenean ectoparasite Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg, 1957 was detected in 2001 on juveniles of landlocked Salmo salar Linnaeus in three rivers draining to Lake Kuitozero in the White Sea basin. The ancestry of the colony was studied by internal transcribed spacers of the nuclear ribosomal operon (ITS), mitochondrial COI gene and by 12 microsatellite markers. The maternal ancestor was a frozen heterozygotic and heteroplasmic diploid clone RBT marked by a ITS-1068^R, spread by rainbow trout and observed in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Russia. The clone combined genomes from two divergent matrilines, probably from grayling (Thymallus Linck) in the Southern Baltic basin (COI ^alien, 84 % bootstrap support) and in Balkans (COI ^rbt, 99 %). The genetic distance of the 1545 bp sequences was dMCL = 0.025. The population in Kuitozero was a progeny of RBT females repeatedly inseminated by conspecific males. It was sexual but propagated as parthenogenetic clones. The derived population carried only COI ^rbt.. The microsatellite alleles of the RBT clone segregated with the paternal alleles following Mendelian model, with an excess of heterozygotes: He = 0.608, Ho = 0.883. Among 244 genotyped worms, 27 multilocus clones were observed, as segregated among the parr (FST = 0.824). Parental genotypes were not detected. The largest clone (104 worms) was heterozygotic in all 12 loci and was identified on fifteen fish, in two rivers and four years. The balancing selection (excess of heterozygotes) equalised the allelic frequencies and maximised the genetic variance available for purifying and adaptive natural selection on a new host. The two sexual episodes associated with three host switch steps offers a model to understand the evolution of the diverse host spectrum of host-specific Gyrodactylus von Nordmann, 1832.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148820356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Special Issue: Does latent Toxoplasma infection mimic the immune profile of schizophrenia? Sex-specific cytokine and brain-marker alterations suggest partial overlap.","authors":"Jaroslav Flegr, Jana Ullmann, Filip Spaniel, Jan Toman, Martin Hula, Blanka Sebankova, Jana Petrusova, Petr Novotny, Josef Vcelak, Sarka Kankova","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2026.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Schizophrenia often features low-grade neuroinflammation. Because latent toxoplasmosis (LT) is more prevalent among individuals with schizophrenia, we tested whether LT yields a biomarker pattern resembling that reported in schizophrenia. We quantified 15 cytokines and 15 blood markers of brain injury in 65 LT-positive individuals and 103 matched LT-negative controls using multiplex immunoassays. Multivariate effects of infection, age, sex, and their interaction were assessed by MANCOVA and PERMANOVA. Effects on individual biomarkers were tested by partial Kendall correlation (controlling for age and sex). Differences in the internal correlation structure were evaluated with Mantel tests on dissimilarity matrices derived from partial correlations. LT was associated with higher KLK6, S100B, and TDP-43, and lower MIF; several other markers showed nonsignificant but sizable trends. Cytokines showed reduced IFN-γ, IL-1β, and MCP-1, and elevated IL-13 and IL-17 in the infected group. Sex-stratified analyses suggested stronger effects on brain-injury markers in women and on cytokines in men. Correlation structure also diverged: infected individuals exhibited more negative links between brain-injury markers and cytokines, whereas controls showed predominantly positive associations (Mantel r = 0.461, p = 0.043). The LT profile overlapped with schizophrenia in elevated KLK6 and S100B and, in men, reduced GDNF, but contrasted for MIF and for the overall cytokine pattern (no consistent IL-6/TNF-α elevation). LT entails neuroinflammatory and neuroimmune alterations that only partly recapitulate schizophrenia; the biomarker pattern and interrelationships differ, arguing against LT as the main driver of schizophrenia-related neuroinflammation.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148665057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lack of evidence for the presence of plastids in the evolutionary history of kinetoplastid protists.","authors":"Anzhelika Butenko, Julius Lukes","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.005","DOIUrl":"10.14411/fp.2026.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The discovery of multiple metabolic enzymes encoded by genes of apparent plant or cyanobacterial origin in trypanosomatids led to the influential hypothesis that the common ancestor of Euglenozoa harboured a plastid that was subsequently lost in kinetoplastids. Here, we critically re-evaluate this hypothesis using an expanded, phylogenetically balanced dataset comprising 299 eukaryotic and 102 bacterial species. We reassess the evolutionary histories of 16 genes encoding proteins previously interpreted as evidence for an ancestral euglenozoan plastid using state-of-the-art maximum-likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic approaches, supplemented by topology tests. Our analyses reveal that none of the examined genes provides compelling support for a plastid-bearing ancestor of Euglenozoa. Instead, these enzymes display heterogeneous evolutionary origins consistent with multiple independent horizontal gene transfer events between euglenozoans and diverse bacterial (distinct from cyanobacteria) and eukaryotic donors. Only the gene encoding a vacuolar H⁺-pyrophosphatase, an electrogenic proton pump, shows limited affinity to chloroplast-bearing lineages, and this signal alone is insufficient to infer plastid ancestry. Taken together, our results strongly suggest a horizontal gene transfer from various non-plastid bearing lineages over the hypothesis of plastid presence in the euglenozoan common ancestor with subsequent loss in kinetoplastids, diplonemids, and non-photosynthetic euglenids.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148320738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Temporal dynamics of parasite community in the three-spot cichlid Amphilophus trimaculatus from Tres Palos Lagoon, Guerrero, Mexico.","authors":"Juan Violante-Gonzalez, Aldo Diaz-Gallegos, Yesenia Gallegos-Navarro, Princessa J Villalba-Vasquez, Carlos Valencia-Cayetano, Jonatan Carbajal-Violante, Guadalupe Quiterio-Rendon","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.004","DOIUrl":"10.14411/fp.2026.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The temporal dynamics of parasite communities of the Three-spot cichlid Amphilophus trimaculatus Günther 1867 was examined during an annual cycle. A total of 770 fishes were collected between March 2019 and February 2020 from a tropical costal lagoon. Thirteen taxa of metazoan parasites were identified, two of monoxenous and 11 of heteroxenous parasites. No significant changes were observed in the species composition of parasite communities in A. trimaculatus during a 12-yr period (2008-2020). The prevalence of infection of six heteroxenous parasites Austrodiplostomum ostrowskiae Dronen, 2009, Cladocystis cf. trifolium Poche, 1926, Clinostomum cf. tataxumui Sereno-Uribe, Pinacho-Pinacho, García-Varela et Pérez-Ponce de León, 2013, Crassicutis cichlasomae Manter, 1936, Southwellina cf. hispida Witenberg, 1932 and Contracaecum sp. varied between sampling months, and/or climatic seasons. Some species were more prevalent during some months of the dry season, while others during the rainy season, suggesting that these parasite populations respond differently to environmental changes. The environmental changes generated by the dry/rainy cycle may have affected the availability of intermediate host populations, and the feeding and reproductive behaviour of the host. Temporal variations in the infection levels of some parasite species generated important changes in the structure of the component communities over time. This study allows us to appreciate the sensitivity of parasite-host systems to environmental variability, and suggests that alterations to hydrological regimes could have significant consequences on parasite biodiversity in tropical brackish water environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148213452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"First report of adults of Acanthocephaloides irregularis from cuttlefish Sepia officinalis (Cephalopoda) in Tunisia: SEM observations and molecular analysis.","authors":"Souad Ben Jemaa, Halima Jmii Chine, Lamjed Mansour, Yann Quilichini, Sihem Bahri","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.003","DOIUrl":"10.14411/fp.2026.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During a parasitological survey of the common cuttlefish Sepia officinalis (Linnaeus) collected from the Bizerte Lagoon in northern Tunisia, adult acanthocephalans were found attached to the internal wall of cuttlefish stomach. The presence of adult acanthocephalans in cephalopods is unusual, given that definitive hosts for these obligate endoparasites are typically vertebrates. A detailed morphological examination of both sexes using light and scanning electron microscopy revealed high morphological similarities to Acanthocephaloides irregularis Amin, Oğuz, Heckmann, Tepe et Kvach, 2011. A partial sequence of 604 bp of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was successfully generated. Phylogenetic analysis based on COI gene confirmed the identification, showing that the Tunisian isolate of A. irregularis clustered closely to A. propinquus (Dujardin, 1845) from Gobius bucchichii Steindachner. This study presents the first record of A. irregularis in S. officinalis in the Mediterranean Sea, offering new insights into its life cycle, host specificity, and ecological significance within benthic food webs. This finding raises important questions about the role of cephalopod hosts in the transmission dynamics of acanthocephalans in marine environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147935503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Description of Ophthalmonema diodontis gen. et sp. n. (Nematoda: Cystidicolidae), a parasite of the eye and surrouding tissues of porcupinefishes (Diodon spp.), with a key to cystidicolid genera.","authors":"Frantisek Moravec, Craig A Pelton, Heather D S Walden","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.002","DOIUrl":"10.14411/fp.2026.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A new nematode genus and species, Ophthalmonema diodontis gen. et sp. n. (Cystidicolidae), are established based on female specimens (males remain unknown) collected from both eyes of an aquarium-kept spot-fin porcupinefish, Diodon hystrix Linnaeus (Diodontidae, Tetraodontiformes), originally caught in coastal waters off Florida, USA. Examination by light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the mouth structure of this nematode, particularly the presence of two conspicuously large, rounded, opposing dorsoventral plates, each connected by a narrow bridge to the inner end of the pseudolabium, is unique among all cystidicolid genera. Inadequately described cystidicolid nematodes previously reported from the eye and surrounding tissues of D. hystrix and Diodon nicthemerus Cuvier in the Caribbean Sea and in waters off southern Australia, respectively, as Metabronema sp. or Cystidicolidae gen. sp. are considered to belong to the new species O. diodontis. A key to cystidicolid genera is provided.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147789579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Three decades of research on molecular genetic characteristics of Echinococcus spp.: a bibliometric study.","authors":"Aidana Tautanova, Vladimir Kiyan, Marat Dusmagambetov, Tanzilya Almysheva, Aigul Dusmagambetova","doi":"10.14411/fp.2026.001","DOIUrl":"10.14411/fp.2026.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research on the molecular genetics of Echinococcus has advanced significantly owing to its relevance in understanding genetic variation, host-parasite interactions, and the transmission of Echinococcus species. A bibliometric analysis was performed using RStudio (Bibliometrix) and VOSviewer to evaluate molecular genetic research on Echinococcus spp. published between 1985 and 2025. Data were extracted from Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Europe PMC, and ProQuest. The analysis revealed a steady rise in publications on Echinococcus molecular genetics, accelerating from the early 2000s and peaking around 2017, with a slight decline after 2023, reflecting fluctuations in research activity. Comparative analysis showed Echinococcus consistently surpassed Schistosoma, Taenia, and soil-transmitted helminths, peaking at 60 articles in 2020-2021. Early publications achieved high mean Total Citations (TC) per year, followed by a stable trend, indicating lasting impact. Leading journals included Parasitology Research (Germany; 70 articles, H-index 114), Veterinary Parasitology (Netherlands; 62, H-index 150), Parasitology (UK; 53, H-index 173), Acta Tropica (Netherlands; 34, H-index 122), and PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (USA; 28, H-index 172). Tehran University of Medical Sciences (54 articles) led institutions. Influential authors included D. P. McManus and T. Romig. Multinational studies (484 publications) had higher citations than single-country (474). Iran (121), China (116), and Italy (53) led global contributions, emphasising collaboration, genotyping, phylogeny, and veterinary applications. This bibliometric study underscores the evolving trends in Echinococcus molecular genetics, providing valuable insights for researchers and stakeholders to guide future investigations and collaborative strategies in controlling echinococcosis.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"73 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147789635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diversity and community structure of ectoparasites infecting some elasmobranch species off the Tunisian coast.","authors":"Feriel Youssef, Bouchra Benmansour, Lassaad Mchiri, Lamjed Mansour","doi":"10.14411/fp.2025.032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2025.032","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With more than 62 reported species, Tunisia has a rich diversity of elasmobranchs. However, investigations of their parasites in Tunisian waters remain rare and fragmented. With the global biodiversity crisis that most living species are facing, the study of parasite diversity is crucial for assessing ecosystem health and host-parasite interactions. In this study, 2,092 specimens of cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii) belonging to eight species, six genera and five families were sampled along the Tunisian coast and examined for their ectoparasites. The different host species were each infected by at least one ectoparasite species. A total of 24 ectoparasite species, among which three new species, were collected and identified. Copepods exhibited the highest taxonomic diversity (11 species), followed by 'monogeneans' (6 species), isopods (5 species), and leeches (2 species). To understand the diversification and specialisation of the collected ectoparasite species and the factors that may influence them, parasitological indices, parasitic communities' composition, parasitic richness and seasonal variation are presented in this work. Parasite community structure varied among host species and families. Mustelus mustelus (Linnaeus) showed the greatest diversity (Shannon-Wiener H' = 1.91; Species richness (SR) = 10), whereas Torpedo torpedo (Linnaeus) hosted only a single leech species. The present study demonstrates that parasite community composition and structure of the studied hosts seem to be influenced primarily by the geographic distribution, the sampling effort and the population density, along with other factors such as the phylogeny of the host species.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"72 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145866428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Harmless parasites? Infections with Hemolivia mauritanica (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina: Karyolysidae) and Haemocystidium spp. (Apicomplexa: Haemosporida: Haemoproteidae) have a negligible impact on white cell counts in tortoise hosts.","authors":"Zaneta Zivcicova, Jan Skrabal, Pavlina Hajkova, David Jandzik, Hossein Javanbakht, Peter Mikulicek, Pavel Siroky","doi":"10.14411/fp.2025.031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2025.031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The pathogenicity of haemogregarines and their effects on the health status of ectothermic hosts remain largely unexplored. In this study, we examined the impact of Hemolivia mauritanica (Sergent et Sergent, 1904) infection on the differential leukocyte count (DLC) as a measurable indicator of health in tortoise hosts. A total of 206 blood smears were analysed, including 181 from spur-thighed tortoises (Testudo graeca Linnaeus) and 25 from marginated tortoises (Testudo marginata Schoepff). Light microscopy was used to identify infected individuals, determine DLC, and quantify parasitaemia levels. Overall, H. mauritanica was detected in 125 of 181 (69%) T. graeca samples and 21 of 25 (84%) T. marginata samples. To assess whether infection influenced DLC, we statistically compared leukocyte profiles between infected and uninfected individuals. Additionally, we evaluated the effects of other factors, including host species, parasitaemia intensity, sex, age, and the month and year of blood collection. Wilcoxon rank-sum tests revealed that parasitaemia and age had a statistically significant effect on DLC in T. graeca. Further analysis using linear models showed a significant association between parasitaemia and DLC, specifically affecting azurophils in T. graeca and basophils in T. marginata. Nine T. graeca tortoises positive for H. mauritanica were co-infected with haemosporidian parasites of the genus Haemocystidium Castellani et Willey, 1904, specifically three with Haemocystidium anatolicum (Orkun et Güven, 2013) and six with Haemocystidium caucasicum (Krasilnikov, 1965). Although co-infection itself was not statistically significant, a separate analysis of Haemocystidium parasitaemia revealed a significant effect on lymphocyte DLC. Furthermore, the frequent presence of mitotic and polychromatophilous erythrocytes in H. mauritanica-infected tortoises suggests a potential increase in erythrocyte regeneration.</p>","PeriodicalId":55154,"journal":{"name":"Folia Parasitologica","volume":"72 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145758253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}