Synonyms: Eimeria propria of Matsubayashi, 1937, pro parte.

Type host: Cynops pyrrhogaster (Boie, 1826), Japanese fire-bellied newt.

Other hosts: None reported to date.

Type locality: ASIA: Japan, eact locality unknown.

Geographic distribution: ASIA: Japan.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: ellipsoidal; number of walls: 1; wall thickness: not given; wall characteristics: smooth, colorless; L x W: 50.2 x 34.5 (44.5-55 x 31-38); L/W ratio: 1.5; M: absent; OR: present; OR characteristics: a large spheroidal body that appears membrane bound, 25.1 (21-31), with many coarse granules at its periphery; PG: absent. Distinctive features of oocyst: large size and large OR.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoite: Sporocyst shape: spindle-shaped; L x W: not given; L/W ratio: unknown; SB: absent; SSB: absent; PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: composed of many granules aggregated into a tight mass; SZ: elongate, ~2/3 the length of sporocyst. Distinctive features of sporocysts: spindle shape.

Prevalence: 2 of 90 (2%).

Sporulation: Unknown. Although Matubayasi (1937) specifically stated, “Formation of the sporozoites in the oocyst are completed in the intestine of the host.” It is unclear if these oocysts sporulate in the intestinal cells (endogenous sporulation) of the host or in the lumen of the intestine (exogenous sporulation).

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

Site of infection: Epithelial cells of the small intestine, between the cuticular layer and the N.

Endogenous development: Merogony was observed in 1 animal experimentally infected with one oocyst and killed at eight days post-inoculation. The mature meront was ellipsoidal and contained ~20 crescent-shaped merozoites. Merozoites were 9.2 x 1.5 and their posterior half is narrower than the anterior, where a round N with a large karyosome is situated.

Materials deposited: None.

Remarks: This is the “second type" of oocyst reported by Matubayasi (1937) in Triturus pyrrhogaster (=Cynops pyrrhogaster), which he identified as E. propria by stating, “it may not be unreasonable to consider my form as identical with E. propria,” in spite of also saying “although in dimensions they do not coincide with each other.” The oocysts of E. propria are considerably smaller (30–36 x 20–36) and it is clear that the coccidium he was seeing represented a separate species.