Isospora pitiguari n. sp.

Type host: Rufous-browed peppershrike Cyclarhis gujanensis Gmelin, 1789 (Aves: Passeriformes: Vireonidae).

Type locality. Marambaia Island (23°04’S, 43°53’W), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Site of infection. Not investigated.

Type-material. One-half of the oocysts were kept in 10% aqueous buffered formalin (v/v) and the other half were stored in 70% ethanol according Duszynski & Gardner (1991). Both samples were deposited in the Parasitology Collection, in the Department of Animal Parasitology, at UFRRJ, located in Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Phototypes and line drawings were deposited as well. The repository number is P-46/2013.

Etymology. The specific epitaph is derived from the common local name for the host, which is ‘pitiguari’.

Description (Figs 1 a–c; 2a–c). Oocyst shape (n = 11) spherical to sub-spherical; oocyst wall bilayered; wall thickness 1.5 (1.3–1.6); outer wall smooth, c. 2/3 of total thickness; L × W = 26.8 × 25.7 (23–28 × 23–28), L/W ratio = 1.0 (1.0–1.1); M, PG and OR: absent. Sporocyst shape (n = 11) rounded to slightly ovoidal; L × W = 14.4 × 11.6 (13–15 × 10–13); L/W ratio = 1.2 (1.2–1.3); SB present, flattened, 0.5 high × 2.5 wide; SSB present, prominent, rounded, 2.0 high × 3.0 wide; PSB absent; SR present, composed of granules of different sizes; SZ vermiform with 1 posterior SRB and centrally located N.

Remarks. Isospora pitiguari differs from other Isospora species from the passerines of same Parvorder (Table 1). In I. pitiguari lack PG, which is present in Isospora brachyrhynchi Wobester & Cawthorn, 1985, Isospora cyanocoracis Upton, Current & Clubb, 1985, Isospora calocitta Upton, Wright & Langen, 1995 and Isospora samoaensis Adamczyk, McQuistion & LaPointe, 2004 . Besides, these four species have elongated/ ovoidal sporocysts, whereas in I. pitiguari the sporocysts are sub-spherical (Berto et al. 2011).