Type host: Rhinolophus mehelyi Matschie, 1901, Mehely's horseshoe bat.

Other hosts: None reported to date.

Type locality: ASIA: Azerbaidzhan.

Geographic distribution: ASIA: Azerbaidzhan.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: ellipsoidal or ovoidal; number of walls: 1; wall thickness: 1.5-2.0; wall characteristics: smooth, colorless; L x W: 41.4 x 35.3 (36-46 x 28-40); L/W ratio: 1.2; M: absent; OR: absent; PG: 1-3 (line drawing). Distinctive features of oocyst: thick, smooth, 1-layered wall; this is the largest Eimeria species yet described from any bat.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: ovoidal; L x W: 18.8 x 13.1 (12-20 x 8-16); L/W ratio: 1.4; SB: present; SSB: apparently present (line drawing), about the same width as SB; PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: coarse granules dispersed between SP (line drawing); SP: banana-shaped, oriented head-to-tail, with N visible, but without RB (line drawing). Distinctive features of sporocyst: size and elongate-ovoidal shape with SB and SSB.

Prevalence: 1/25 (4%).

Sporulation: Exogenous. Oocysts sporulated in 14 d in 2.5% aqueous (w/v) potassium dichromate solution at 15-25 C.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

Site of infection: Unknown. Oocysts recovered from feces.

Materials deposited: None.

Remarks: Musaev and Gauzer (1971) compared these oocysts to E. hessei and felt they were sufficiently different to name them as a different species; neither species has been found since their original descriptions. In their survey, Musaev and Gauzer (1971) also examined 87 other bats representing 10 different species, none of which they named. Of these 87 bats, 15 were of one species (unnamed) and in 1/15 (7%) they said they found 12 oocysts, which they did not describe.

References: Levine and Ivens (1981); Musaev and Gauzer (1971).