Abstract
Two free-ranging Ryukyu long-furred rats that were suspected to be killed from traffic accidents in Kunigami-son, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan were collected in September 2011. At necropsy, many macroscopic sarcocysts were observed in the skeletal muscles of these two animals, such as the tongue, masseter muscle, diaphragm, and external oblique muscle. Histological examination found no inflammatory reactions around the sarcocyst. By DNA sequencing of these sarcocysts, two 1,797 base pairs (bp) of the 18S rRNA gene (GenBank accession number AB691780) and two 1,441-bp fragments of the 28S rRNA gene (GenBank accession number AB691781) of Sarcocystis sp. were obtained. The 18S and 28S rRNA gene sequences of the parasite collected from different host individuals were absolutely identical. This is the first record of sarcocystosis in the Ryukyu long-furred rat, which is a rare and endemic species of the Nansei Islands, Japan.
