sp. nov. in the imported green tree pythoncf.(Reptilia, Pythonidae).

Abstract

Species ofuse various vertebrates as intermediate or definitive hosts in their life cycles. One of these is snakes, whose role as intermediate hosts for these protozoans is scarce; in fact, there are six records, but only three with molecular characterization. An imported green tree python was involved in the morphological and molecular characterization (four loci) of a new species oflocalized in skeletal muscles.sp. nov. has a type 1 sarcocyst with a smooth wall and is genetically similar (at therRNA gene) to two unnamed species offound infrom Oman andfrom Malaysia, but their detailed comparison is impossible. The new species showed lower similarity to its congeners in other loci (rRNA, ITS1, and). This is the first morphological and genetic characterization of aspecies in snakes of the genus, particularly, using four loci, but more data are needed to fill the knowledge gap about snakes as intermediate hosts of.