Table 1.
Primers used for amplification of the 18S rRNA gene of Sarcocystis spp.
Table 2.
Sites of origin, python species, prevalence of infection with Sarcocystis spp., and size classes of sporocysts detected in faecal samples from pythons of Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Australia.
Table 3.
Geographic origin, snake hosts, sporocyst size classes, and partial 18S rRNA gene sequences of Sarcocystis spp. identified in faecal samples from pythons of Southeast Asia and Australia.
Fig 1.
Phylogram of selected taxa of the Sarcocystidae including the new Sarcocystis isolates and species examined in this study (black symbols).
Selected taxa of the Eimeriidae and the fish-host species Goussia janae served as root. Branches A and B indicate the subfamilies Toxoplasmatinae and Sarcocystinae, respectively. In addition to snake-host taxa, branch D includes Sarcocystis spp. of ruminating mammals as intermediate hosts. The tree was reconstructed by Minimum Evolution (ME) algorithm with 1557 sites of the 18S rRNA gene under analysis. Bootstrap values ≥ 50% of 1000 iterations are indicated. See further explanations in the text. Key to generic name abbreviations as follows: B = Besnoitia, C = Cystoisospora, E = Eimeria, G = Goussia, H = Hyaloklossia, N = Neospora, S = Sarcocystis, T = Toxoplasma.
Fig 2.
a) Sporocysts of Sarcocystis cf. nesbitti (arrow) and Sarcocystis sp.1 (arrowhead, tentatively S. zamani) from the Australian scrub python. Asterisk indicates residual body, sp = sporozoite; b) Oocyst of S. cf. nesbitti. Arrowhead indicates the thin oocyst wall.