An overview of the Dactylosomatidae (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina: Dactylosomatidae), with the description of n. sp. parasitising and from South Africa.

Haemogregarine (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) blood parasites are commonly reported from anuran hosts. Dactylosomatidae (Jakowska and Nigrelli, 1955) is a group of haemogregarines comprising Labbé, 1894 and Jakowska and Nigrelli, 1956. Currently and contain five recognised species each. In the current study, a total of 643 anurans, comprising 38 species, 20 genera, and 13 families were collected from South Africa (n = 618) and Belgium (n = 25), and their blood screened for the presence of dactylosomatid parasites. Three anuran species were found infected namely, (Bocage, 1868) and (Power, 1927) from South Africa, and (Camerano, 1882) from Belgium. Based on morphological characteristics, morphometrics and molecular results a new dactylosomatid, n. sp. is described form . and . . The species of isolated from could not, based on morphological or molecular analysis, be identified to species level. Phylogenetic analysis shows species of infecting anurans as a monophyletic group separate from the other haemogregarine groups. Additionally, the mosquitoes () Theobald, 1901 and . () Ingram and De Meillon, 1927 were observed feeding on and possible dividing stages of this new parasite were observed in the mosquitoes. This study is the first to describe a dactylosomatid parasite based on morphological and molecular data from Africa as well as observe potential stages in possible dipteran vectors.