{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,7]],"date-time":"2025-12-07T21:46:20Z","timestamp":1765143980666,"version":"3.40.3"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,2]],"date-time":"2025-04-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1743552000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Pesquisa (CNPq), Brazil"},{"name":"Federal Agency for the Support and Improvement of Higher Education","award":["CAPES - Finance Code 001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CAPES - Finance Code 001"]}]},{"name":"Federal Agency for the Support and Improvement of Higher Education","award":["CAPES - Finance Code 001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CAPES - Finance Code 001"]}]},{"name":"Federal Agency for the Support and Improvement of Higher Education","award":["CAPES - Finance Code 001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CAPES - Finance Code 001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Parasites of the genus <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic>, responsible for lizard malaria, are widely distributed and taxonomically diverse. Molecular techniques provide valuable insights into the evolutionary relationships of <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> species and lineages. However, the available data are still scarce, emphasizing the need for taxonomy-focused studies. We investigated the occurrence of <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> infection in free-living lizards in the Brazilian Cerrado using an integrative approach based on the amplification\/sequencing of the <jats:italic>Plasmodium cytb<\/jats:italic> gene and microscopic analysis. Among 302 lizards screened, 61 (20.2%) tested positive in the molecular screening, including 18 with concordant results in microscopy. We recovered 16 sequences in the first molecular survey of this host group in the biome. Our findings unveil a variety of <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> species, some of which were previously undocumented in this region. We describe new lineages of <jats:italic>Plasmodium ouropretensis<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>P. tropiduri<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>P. carmelinoi<\/jats:italic>, and also report a new species, herein named as <jats:italic>Plasmodium brasiliensis<\/jats:italic> n. sp. The infection by <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> sp. in <jats:italic>Hoplocercus spinosus<\/jats:italic> represents the first description of Apicomplexa organisms in this species. Furthermore, our results open remarkable possibilities for extensive studies in a field unexplored for many years.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0319402","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,2]],"date-time":"2025-04-02T23:00:16Z","timestamp":1743634816000},"page":"e0319402","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Plasmodium species infecting lizards in the Brazilian Cerrado: Identification and description of a novel species, Plasmodium brasiliensis n. sp."],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Izabelle T. S.","family":"Carvalho","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Adriana P.","family":"Furtado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Matheus A.","family":"Duarte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pedro H. O.","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"L\u00edvia S. M.","family":"Paiva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"J\u00falio M. 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