Synonyms: non Eimeria grobbeni of Doran, 1954; non Eimeria grobbeni of Walton, 1961.

Type host: Salamandra atra Laurenti, 1768, Alpine salamander.

Other hosts: None reported to date.

Type locality: EUROPE: Austria.

Geographic distribution: EUROPE: Austria.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: subspherroidal; number of walls: 2; wall thickness: ~1; wall characteristics: outer smooth, ~2/3 of total thickness (line drawing); L x W: 10-11 x 9-10; L/W ratio: not given; M: present, ~1.5 wide; OR: absent; PG: absent. Distinctive features of oocyst: small size and presence of M.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoite: Sporocyst shape: pyriform (line drawing) to elongate-ovoidal, pointed at one end; L x W: 5-6 x 4; L/W ratio: ~1.4; SB: present as small knob at tapered end of sporocyst; SSB: absent; PSB: absent; SR: rarely present; SR characteristics: a few scattered granules; SZ: crescent-shaped (line drawing) with RB at one end and N at the other. Distinctive features of sporocysts: pyriform shape.

Prevalence: Unknown.

Sporulation: Exogenous, 3-4 d at room temperature, but a few sporulated oocysts were encountered in the intestine of infected hosts, especially in the rectum.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

Site of infection: Nucleus of intestinal epithelial cells.

Endogenous development: There is no mention of a first generation meront or where it develops. However, (later?) merozoites penetrate the host N and destroy it from within, and a PV arises in the N to surround the merozoite. The merozoite then rounds up and develops into either a small meront (4–5 wide) or a large meront (17–18 wide) and each is capable of giving rise to 20–30 merozoites that measure 10–12 x 1–1.5. Microgamonts are 5 wide and their N undergo repeated divisions producing microgametes tapered at one end; in some, a 2–3 x 1 wide vacuole is seen. About 70–90 microgametes arise around a central residuum from each microgamont. Macrogamonts are 4–5 wide and have a large karyosome. Many chromatin-rich granules gradually migrate toward the periphery. The growing macrogamete destroys the host cell N.

Pathology: In the intestine, desquamation of the epithelium and infiltration of inflammatory cellular elements in the mucosa and submucosa are seen. Heavily infected salamanders show conspicuous depigmentation of the skin, particularly on the head, cervical and abdominal regions (Pell้rdy 1974).

Materials deposited: None.

Remarks: Rudovsky (1925) reported 2 small eimerians from S. atra: one he named E. grobbeni; it had a M, but no OR; the second, unnamed species, was of identical size, had an OR and an outer wall that collapsed easily. It is likely that the latter was E. grobbeni that sporulated improperly. The coccidium from Taricha torosa (=Triturus torosus) in California was improperly termed E. grobberi (sic) by Doran (1953). It is now E. tarichae (Levine 1980).