Hidden in plain sight: Morphological and genetic diversity of blood protozoa from North American amphibians

Abstract

Blood parasites represent an incredibly diverse subset of parasites that infect all major groups of vertebrates and are transmitted by numerous blood feeding invertebrates. However, quantifying blood parasite diversity is difficult due to the challenges presented by a lack of morphological characters and genetic markers suitable for species delineation. This dissertation investigates the diversity of two genera of blood parasites that infect amphibians and reptiles. Trypanosoma spp. of amphibians present numerous morphological characters for species differentiation, however the possibility for species to take multiple forms has historically inhibited the use of morphology in trypanosome species delineation. Hepatozoon spp. have the opposite problem, where genetically divergent species across wide host ranges can all have very similar gamont morphology in the bloodstream of their hosts, and morphology is not a useful character to identify species. The studies presented here address the challenges to identify Trypanosoma spp. and Hepatozoon spp. of amphibians and reptiles and develop methods to link morphological and genetic data to better investigate blood parasite diversity.