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41 2 Jou rna l o f W ild li fe D is ea ses Vo l. 11 , Ju ly , 1 97 5

rn Published with the approval of the Director, Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station asJo urnal Paper No . 703 .

BOV INE COCC ID IA IN AMER ICAN B ISONWKERM IT L . R YFF and R . C . BERG STROM , D iv is ion o f M ic rob io lo gy a nd V e te rin a ry M ed ic in e ,U n iv e rs ity o f W yom ing , La ram ie , W yom ing 820 71 , U SA

A b s t, ra c t: Three spec ies o f co cc id ia , found in A m erican b ison sam pled in W yom in g ,ar e iden tified . T he desc rib ed cocc id ial spec ies, comm on to cattle , have n o t beenrep orted prev iou sly from A m erican b ison , (B iso n b ison ). Iden tifica tion of th e p ara -s ite s w as de term in ed by oocyst s truc tu ra l m easurem en ts and by oocys t spo ru la tiont imes .

I N TRODUCT IONTw o spec ies o f cocc id ia , E im en ia b os is

an d E . b ukid no nen sis , have been re-ported from th e A m erican b ison (B isonb i son ) . 5 The presen t w r ite rs h ave know nfor severa l y ears tha t spec ies o th er thanth ose no ted above are comm on in feca lsam ples from bison . D u ring the past 2years, observations of oo cy st d ev e lo p-m en t and m easurem en ts o f sporu latedoocys ts have been m ade on w hat appearto be th e fo llow ing spec ies : E . a ub urn -e ns is , E . b ra si hi en si s an d E . c an ad en sis .

M ATER IA LS AND M ETHO DSF eca l sam ples w ere co llec ted from

B ison b ison confined to an enclosure onthe D urh am M eat C om pany R anch ,sou th of G ille tte , W yom ing . C a ttle h adn o t been grazed on the ran ch ranges fo ra num ber o f years bu t sheep and horseswere grazed on the sam e ran ge used byt he b is on . L im it ed exposure to ca ttle o rto rang e grazed b y ca ttle occurred in thesummer and fall months when some ofthe bison broke through the ranch boun-d ary fence . T h e b ison ca lv es w ere w eanedin D ecem ber , p laced in an enc losu re andfed a ra tio n w hich inc luded variou s nu-trien t su pp lem en ts. A few aged b iso ncow s w ere also p resen t in the grou p ofapp rox im ate ly 700 b iso n ca lv es .

Oocysts were isolated from the fecalsamples by cen trifuga tion and flo ta tionand were sporulated in 2% potass iumd ich nom ate so lu tion 2-3 mm deep. Thesporu lated oocys ts w ere floa ted on tocov erslips fo r transfer to slides fo r m icro -scop ic exam ina tio n . Tw en ty -f iv e oocys tsan d 30 spo rocys ts w ere m easured fromE . a ub un ne nsis . Tw enty oocys ts and 20sporocysts were measured from E . c an a-de ns i s . Thirty oocysts, 30 sporocysts and30 polar caps were measured from E.brasi l iensis . Photographs were made withK odachrom e II co lo r film using a Z e issIk on SLR cam era m ounted on a Z eisss tandard resea rch m icro scop e.

RESULTSO oc ys t s po ru la ti on tim es and m easure -

m en ts m ade on oocys ts , sp orocys ts, andpo lar cap s a re p resen ted in Tab le 1 .E im nen ia a ub un nen sis C hr is te ns en a nd Por-te r 19 39 (F ig . 1 ).

T he oocys ts appeared e lo nga te ovo idw ith a sm ooth , co lo rless to ye llow ishw all. T he s ign ifican t fea tu re w as thefla tten ed m icropy la r end w ith prom inen tshoulders apparent in most oocysts ob-se rved . O ocys t res iduum w as absen t infresh ly sporu la ted o ocysts bu t som etim esappeared in aged sporulated oocysts.Sporocys ts w ere e long ate w ith a s te idabody an d res id uum .

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F g . 1

F ig . 3

FIGURE 1. E im eria aubu rnens is . F IG URE 2. E . b ras ilie ns is . F IGURE 3. E . canade nsis . B a r rep re .se nts 1 0 m icro me te rs .

J ou rna l o f W ild life D ise ases Vo l. 11 , Ju ly , 1975 41 3

TABLE 1 . O o cy s tE . b ras iliens is , an d

s tru ctu ra l m ea su re me nts E . c a na d en s is .

an d o oc ys t s po ru la tio n tim es o f E . a ub urn en s is ,

S truc tur e E . a uh:,rnen sis E . bras ilien sis E . c a na d en si smean range m ean range m ean rang e

O ocyst w id thO oc ys t l en gt hS po ro cy st w id thS po ro cy st l en gt hPola r cap w id thSpo ru la tion tim e

26 24-2 941 39-438 7-10

17 15-19-

2- 3

28 25-3140 37-4310 9-1 120 18-239 7-1 1

8- 9

26 23 -2736 34-388 7-10

19 16-20-

4- 5a A ll m easurem en ts in m icrom ete rs

D ays a t am bient room tem pe ra ture s 18 -23 C

I

F IG UR ES 1 -3 . Sp o ru la ted oo cys ts from B iso n b ison .

Fg . 2

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L IT ER ATU RE C ITED

41 4 Jou rnal o f W il dl if e D is ea se s V ol . 1 1 , Ju ly , 197 5

R eceiv ed for p ub lic a tion 12 N ovem b er 19 74

E im en ia brasi lien sis Torres and R am os1939 (Fig. 2).O oc ys ts a pp ear ed e llip so id al w ith a

prominent polar cap. The brownish-ye llow oocys t w all appeared th ick er a tthe po la r cap end . O ocys t residuum anda polar granule were absent. Sporocys tswere elongate with a knob-like narrowend . A sporo cyst res id uum and c lea r g b-b ule s w er e us ua ll y presen t .E im en ia can adens is Bruce, 1921 (Fig. 3)

O oc ys ts a pp ear ed e llip so ida l w ith acolorless to yellowish oocyst wall. Thew al l a pp ea re d th inner a t the m icro py la rend . O o cyst res iduum usua lly w as ab -sen t. S ponocy sts w ere elon ga te w ith ares iduum.

D ISCUSS IONThe m ost p reva len t cocc id ium observed

by th e au th ors f rom A m erican b ison w asE . bov is = (E . sm ith i). We have notseen E . b uk idn onensis which Pellerdylistsas the on ly cocc id ium in B . b ison .6T he de sc rip ti ve f ea tu re s an d sp oru la ti ontimes of the oocy sts desc ribed in th isreport appear to agree with the descrip-tions of E . aub urn en sis , E . brasi lien sisan d E . c an ad en sis . These th ree spe-c ies o f cocc id ia , comm on to cattle , haveno t been prev iou sly rep orted fromAm erican b ison .

1. CHRISTENSEN, J. F. 1941. The oo cy sts o f cocc id ia from dom es tic ca ttle inAlabama (U.S.A.), with descriptions of two new species. J. P ar as it . 2 7:203-220 .

2. LEVINE, N. D. 1973. P ro tozo an Pa ra site s o f D om n estic An im n a ls am id o f M an .2n d E d. Bu rg es s, M in ne ap ol is .

3. MARQUARDT, W. C. 1959. The morphology and sporulation of the oocystsof E im en ia b na siliens is , Torres and Ildelfonso Ramos 1939, of ca ttle. A m . J.v et . R es . 2 0: 7 42 -7 46.

4. N YBERG, P . A . and D . M . H AMMON D . 1965. D escrip tion o f the sporu la tedoo cy sts and sporozo ites o f four species o f bov ine cocc id ia. J. P ara si t. 5 1:669-673 .

5. PELLERDY, L. P. 1963. Catalogue of Eimneniid ea (Protozoa; Sporozoa). Akad .K iado , B udapest.

6 . PELLERDY , L . P . 1969 . Ca ta logu e o f E im en iid ea (P ro to zo a; Spo ro zoa ) Su p-p lem en tum 1 . A kad . K iado , B udapes t.

7 . RA STEG A IEFF , E . F . 1 930 . Z ur F rage U ber C occid ien w ilde r T ie re . A rch .P ro ti st en ku nd e 7 1: 3 77 -4 04 .