The haplosporidian Bonamia exitiosa is present in Australia, but the identity of the parasite described as Bonamia (formerly Mikrocytos) roughleyi is uncertain

•We sought genetic data for discrimination of Bonamia roughleyi from Bonamia exitiosa.•PCR detection of a Bonamia in Australia was rare despite patent B. roughleyi infections.•In situ hybridization of Bonamia-specific DNA probes to B. roughleyi were negative.•Histologically observed B. roughleyi deserves nomen dubium status.•We conclude that Bonamia genetically detected in Australian oysters is B. exitiosa.

Protistan oyster parasites in the genus Bonamia have been observed in recent years infecting new hosts on five continents, with most of these parasites genetically similar to austral species Bonamia exitiosa and Bonamia roughleyi. Identification of the newly observed parasites as one or another of these described species has been complicated by the fact that B. exitiosa and B. roughleyi are phylogenetically indistinguishable at the small-subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) level, with samples of B. roughleyi type material no longer available for genetic re-analyses using more informative internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region DNA sequences. To resolve this issue, we evaluated B. roughleyi in field collections of hosts Saccostrea glomerata and Ostrea angasi (as well as Crassostrea gigas) in New South Wales, Australia in 2006 and 2007, and re-analyzed histological samples from the original description of this parasite species using in situ hybridization. Despite (1) reports of the oyster disease putatively caused by B. roughleyi during the time of collections, (2) the observation of gross lesions characteristic of the disease, and (3) the observation of B. roughleyi cells in association with the lesions, we detected a Bonamia sp. by PCR in just 1/42 O. angasi (2.4%), and 1/608 S. glomerata (0.2%), the latter oyster of which is the type host. SSU rDNA sequences of the amplicons were nearly identical to those of B. exitiosa and B. roughleyi, and phylogenetic analysis of ITS region sequences placed them on a B. exitiosa clade. A Haplosporidium sp. sequence similar to that of H. costale was PCR-amplified from nearly half the S. glomerata and O. angasi, but no Haplosporidium sp. was observed histologically. Our inability to identify a Bonamia sp. sequence in association with the B. roughleyi observed histologically suggests that this parasite is not a Bonamia sp. at all, and should be regarded as B. roughleyi nomen dubium. We conclude that the Bonamia sp. that we and other investigators detected in southeastern Australian S. glomerata and O. angasi was B. exitiosa.

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