Brevispina tasii (Brevispinidae) n. fam., n. gen., n. sp. (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinida: Stenophoroidea) is described from the crane fly Tipula umbrosa Loew, 1863 (Insecta: Diptera: Tipulidae: Tipulinae) collected from the Sam Houston National Forest, Watson Lakes, Walker County Texas, U.S.A. This family is distinguished from the existing families within Stenophoroidea by gamontic (precocious) association, oocysts that dehisce unchained by expulsion en mass in response to hyaline epicyst constriction, and development that is synchronized with and dependent upon host development. On the basis of these observations, a new family is described and the taxonomic status of existing tipulid gregarine taxa is revisited herein.
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Comparative Parasitology
Vol. 81 • No. 1
January 2014
Vol. 81 • No. 1
January 2014
Brevispina tasii
Brevispinidae
crane fly
east Texas
Eugregarinida
leaf litter
Stenophoroidea