Type host: Pipistrellus subflavus (F. Cuvier, 1832), Eastern pipistrelle.

Other hosts: None reproted to date.

Type locality: NORTH AMERICA: ISA, Alabama, Clarke Co., Lion's Den Cave.

Geographic distribution: NORTH AMERICA: Alabama, Arkansas.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: subspheroidal to broadly ellipsoidal; number of walls: 1 (?); wall thickness: 1.0; wall characteristics: rough, light brown, pitted and appears striated in optical cross-section; there is an inner, dark membrane that probably is a second layer; L x W: 19.0 x 17.6 (16-21 x 15-19); L/W ratio: 1.1 (1.0-1.2); M: absent; OR: absent; PG: 1-2, ellipsoidal in shape. Distinctive features of oocyst: striated appearance of wall.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: ovoidal; L x W: 11.0 x 7.0 (10-12 x 6-8); L/W ratio: 1.6; SB: present, prominent, knob-like; SSB: present, about same width as SB; PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: composed of several dispersed granules; SP: elongate, lying lengthwise or toward end of sporocyst, partly curled around each other, each with a small anterior and larger posterior RB. Distinctive features of sporocyst: presence of SB and SSB and 2 RB in SP.

Prevalence: 2/3 (67%) in Alabama; 2/5 (40%) in Arkansas.

Sporulation: Presumably exogenous. Oocysts sporulated in 1 wk in 2.5% aqueous (w/v) potassium dichromate solution at 22-25 C.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

Site of infection: Unknown. Oocysts recovered from cecal contents.

Materials deposited: None.

Remarks: Twenty-five years after Wheat's (1975) original description, McAllister et al. (2001) found and redescribed the sporulated oocysts of E. macyi that they collected from P. subflavus in Arkansas. The oocysts and sporocysts from Arkansas bats were slightly larger than those described by Wheat (22.2 x 20.5 vs 20.3 x 18.1 and 12.4 x 8.3 vs 10.6 x 6.6, respectively). McAllister et al. (2001) measured sporozoites in situ (16.4 x 3.4), which Wheat (1975) did not do, and they also provided the first photomicrograph of a sporulated oocyst. They did not, however, deposit photosyntypes into an accredited museum.

References: McAllister et al. (2001); Wheat (1975).