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Home / Bulletin of Marine Science, Volume 99, Number 4

Morphological and ultrastructural description of Nematopsis spisula sp. nov. (Apicomplexa) inhabiting Spisula solida (Bivalvia) on the Portuguese Atlantic coast

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This study describes the morphology and ultrastructure of the oocysts of a new species of the genus Nematopsis infecting different organs of the surf clam Spisula solida (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mollusca, Bivalvia) on the Portuguese Atlantic coast. Each oocyst [14.3 (SD 0.2) μm long and 10.3 (SD 0.3) μm wide] contains a single uninucleate vermiform sporozoite. Single and grouped oocysts enveloped by a parasitophorous vacuole occur enclosed within host phagocytes externally, surrounded by a complex reticular ring-like structure formed by juxtaposed and parallel cysterns containing numerous small electron dense masses regularly distributed in their lumen. More advanced stages of infection show phagocytic degradation characterized by cytoplasmic vacuolarization and rupture of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane. Morphological and ultrastructural observations combined with host reaction specificity supports the erection of a new species, namely Nematopsis spisula sp. nov.

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Laboratório de Biologia Celular, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Laboratório de Patologia, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto (CIIMAR-UP), Matosinhos, Portugal;, Email: [email protected] 2: Laboratório de Biologia Celular, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; i3S — Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal 3: Laboratório de Biologia Celular, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; TOXRUN — Unidade de Investigação em Toxicologia, Instituto Universitário de Ciências das Saúde – CESPU (IUCS-CESPU), Gandra, Portugal

Publication date: October 1, 2023

This article was made available online on October 23, 2023 as a Fast Track article with title: "Morphological and ultrastructural description of Nematopsis spisula sp. nov. (Apicomplexa) inhabiting Spisula solida (Bivalvia) on the Portuguese Atlantic coast".

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  • The Bulletin of Marine Science is dedicated to the dissemination of high quality research from the world's oceans. All aspects of marine science are treated by the Bulletin of Marine Science, including papers in marine biology, biological oceanography, fisheries, marine affairs, applied marine physics, marine geology and geophysics, marine and atmospheric chemistry, and meteorology and physical oceanography.
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