TY - JOUR AU - Devetak, Dušan AU - Novak, Tone PY - 2021/12/15 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Gregarines (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinorida) parasitizing the cave cricket Troglophilus (Orthoptera: Raphidophoridae) in the Slovenian karst JF - Acta Carsologica JA - AC VL - 50 IS - 2-3 SE - Original papers DO - 10.3986/ac.v50i2-3.9305 UR - https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/carsologica/article/view/9305 SP - AB - <p>The cave crickets <em>Troglophilus neglectus </em>Krauss, 1879 and <em>T. cavicola </em>(Kollar, 1833) originating from caves in Slovenia were surveyed for gregarines. Two gregarine species were identified. <em>Gregarina troglophili </em>(Golemansky &amp; Lipa, 1991) occurred in both cave cricket species, <em>T. cavicola </em>being reported a new host species. Besides, a new species, <em>Gregarina bernardae </em>sp. n., in­fecting <em>T. neglectus</em>, was identified and described. The two spe­cies often infest the same <em>T. neglectus </em>individuals, but can be well distinguished upon the shape and morphometric indexes of both solitary gregarines and associations. The deutomerite in solitary gamonts of <em>G. troglophili </em>is orbicular to broadly el­liptoid, while in <em>G. bernardae </em>sp. n. it is oblong to dolioform. In associations, the primite deutomerite in <em>G. troglophili </em>is orbicu­lar to broadly elliptoid, while in <em>G. bernardae </em>sp. n. it is shal­lowly oblong to oblong. In contrast to broadly obovoid to finely obdeltoid satellite deutomerite in <em>G. troglophili</em>, it is narrowly dolioform or dolioform to narrowly obdeltoid in <em>G. bernardae </em>sp. n. Both species are new to the faunal list of Slovenia, and to the list of cave-dwelling species in the country. We direct the attention to the parasite diversity of cave-dwelling animals – a promising, but understudied topic that might considerably contribute to the diversity of the subterranean fauna.</p> ER -