Morphological and molecular diagnosis of Eimeria sp. that caused fatality in a red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) in Korea

• Published in: Parasitology international Vol. 71; pp. 147 - 150
• Main Authors: Lee, Seung-Hun, Lee, Kyunghyun, Kim, Kyoo-Tae, Choi, Eun-Jin, Kwak, Dongmi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.08.2019
• Subjects: Coccidiosis; Diarrhea; Differential diagnosis; Marsupial; Phylogeny; Wallaby; Diarrhea; Differential diagnosis; Phylogeny; Marsupial; Coccidiosis; Wallaby
• ISSN: 1383-5769; 1873-0329
• DOI: 10.1016/j.parint.2019.04.008

A red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) in the Republic of Korea, introduced from Australia, died in 12 d after exhibiting anorexia and diarrhea. Postmortem examination revealed that the wallaby died due to coccidiosis by Eimeria sp. Morphologically, Eimeria sp. identified closely resembled E. mykytowyczi. The 18S rRNA sequence analysis showed that Eimeria sp. identified in this study has a 98.5% identity with that in Australian red kangaroo (M. rufus). However, owing to insufficient molecular information on marsupial-specific Eimeria, exact species could not be determined. Phylogenetically, Eimeria sp. identified in this study belonged to clade five of the marsupial group. •First report on red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) died due to coccidiosis in the Republic of Korea.•Morphologically, Eimeria sp. identified closely resembled E. mykytowyczi.•The 18S rRNA sequence analysis of Eimeria sp. belonged to clade five of the marsupial group.•Considering the wallaby died 12 d after introduction from Australia, Eimeria sp. identified might not be indigenous.