Toxoplasma gondii is a parasitic protozoan that causes toxoplasmosis. Found worldwide, T. gondii is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals, but felids are the only known definitive hosts in which the parasite may undergo sexual reproduction.
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens of generations and become an aggressive local apex predator in urban, savannah and bushland environments. Some feral cats may become more comfortable with people who regularly feed them, but even with long-term attempts at socialization, they usually remain aloof and are most active after dusk. Of the 700 million cats in the world, an estimated 480 million are feral.
The Galápagos hawk is a large hawk endemic to most of the Galápagos Islands.
Canarypox virus (CNPV) is an Avipoxvirus and etiologic agent of canarypox, a disease of wild and captive birds that can cause significant losses. Canarypox can enter human cells, but it cannot survive and multiply in human cells. There is a live viral vaccine available which may have beneficial properties against human cancer when used as a mammalian expression vector.. Furthermore, the Poximune C vaccine does offer direct protection against CNPV in susceptible birds.
The longtail stingray, is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Baja California to Colombia. It inhabits sandy habitats down to a depth of 90 m (300 ft). Measuring up to 1.56 m (5.1 ft) across, this species has a rhomboid pectoral fin disc, a lower fin fold on the tail, and numerous dermal denticles along the back and behind the stinging spine. The longtail stingray feeds mainly on bottom-dwelling bony fishes and crustaceans. It is aplacental viviparous, with females giving birth to 1–5 young in late summer. It is caught for food, likely throughout its range, but specific fishery data is lacking.
Dioctophyme renale, commonly referred to as the giant kidney worm, is a parasitic nematode (roundworm) whose mature form is found in the kidneys of mammals. D. renale is distributed worldwide, but is less common in Africa and Oceania. It affects fish-eating mammals, particularly mink and dogs. Human infestation is rare, but results in kidney destruction, usually of one kidney and hence not fatal. A 2019 review listed a total of 37 known human cases of dioctophymiasis in 10 countries with the highest number (22) in China. Upon diagnosis through tissue sampling, the only treatment is surgical excision.
Sarmazenil (Ro15-3505) is a drug from the benzodiazepine family. It acts as a partial inverse agonist of benzodiazepine receptors, meaning that it causes the opposite effects to most benzodiazepine drugs, and instead acts as an anxiogenic and convulsant. It is used in veterinary medicine to reverse the effects of benzodiazepine sedative drugs in order to rapidly re-awaken anesthetized animals.
Thelaziasis is the term for infestation with parasitic nematodes of the genus Thelazia. The adults of all Thelazia species discovered so far inhabit the eyes and associated tissues of various mammal and bird hosts, including humans. Thelazia nematodes are often referred to as "eyeworms".
Profilicollis is a genus of acanthocephalan parasites of crustaceans. The status of the genus Profilicollis has been debated, and species placed in this genus were formerly included in the genus Polymorphus. However, research on the morphology of the group and their use of hosts has concluded that Profilicollis and Polymorphus should be regarded as distinct genera, and species previously described as Polymorphus altmani are now referred to as Profilicollis altmani in taxonomic and biological literature. Profilicollis parasites infect decapod crustaceans, usually shore crabs, as intermediate hosts, and use many species of shorebirds as definitive (final) hosts.
Biomphalaria glabrata is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails.
Schistosoma spindale is a species of digenetic trematode in the family Schistosomatidae. It causes intestinal schistosomiasis in the ruminants.
Clinostomum marginatum is a species of parasitic fluke. It is commonly called the "Yellow grub". It is found in many freshwater fish in North America, and no fish so far is immune to this parasite. It is also found in frogs. Clinostomum marginatum can also be found in the mouth of aquatic birds such as herons and egrets. They are commonly present in the esophagus of fish-eating birds and reptiles. Eggs of these trematodes are shed in the feces of aquatic birds and released into water. Aquatic birds become hosts of this parasite by ingesting infected freshwater fish. The metacercariae are found right beneath the skin or in the muscles of host fish.
Microphallus turgidus is a widespread and locally common flatworm parasite in New Zealand lakes and streams. Multilocus allozyme genotype data show that Microphallus turgidus is a single outbred species with high levels of gene flow among South Island populations. Microphallus turgidus is commonly found in the abdominal muscles of grass shrimp.
Hyaloklossia is a genus of parasitic alveolates in the phylum Apicomplexa. Only two species in this genus are currently recognised.
In molecular biology mir-455 microRNA is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.
Chelonoidis niger donfaustoi, known as the eastern Santa Cruz tortoise, is a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise living on Santa Cruz Island, within the Galápagos. Until 2015, C. n. donfaustoi was considered conspecific with the western Santa Cruz tortoise, C. n. porteri.
Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala is a species of parasitic nematodes in the family Rhabdiasidae. It was first found in lungs of the cane toad Bufo marinus in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It can be confused with Rhabdias sphaerocephala, described from toads in Europe, yet differs from the latter by its head-end morphology and in sequences of rDNA.
Colpocephalum is a genus of chewing louse. Christian Ludwig Nitzsch named the genus in 1818. The Plenary Powers of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature selected Colpocephalum zebraBurmeister, 1838 as its type species in the 1950s. There are approximately 135 species in this genus, and they are ectoparasites of birds in at least a dozen different orders.
Microbial DNA barcoding is the use of DNA metabarcoding to characterize a mixture of microorganisms. DNA metabarcoding is a method of DNA barcoding that uses universal genetic markers to identify DNA of a mixture of organisms.
