{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T23:57:29Z","timestamp":1791244649813,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Wildlife Disease Association","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Wildlife Diseases"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,31]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>We collected and screened black rats (Rattus rattus) in Key Largo, Florida, USA, to determine the potential role of disease or parasites in the collapse of the local population. Rats appeared healthy, but 94% (n=15\/16) tested positive for Sarcocystis sp. The partial 18S rRNA gene sequence was 98.7\u201399.7% similar to a strain of Sarcocystis zuoi that is now considered a strain of the newly described Sarcocystis kani within the larger S. zuoi species complex that contains numerous new species. These Sarcocystis spp. use Asian snakes as definitive hosts and rodents, shrews, or tree shrews as intermediate hosts. Pythons are the definitive host for several Sarcocystis spp. in Asia, including a related parasite (Sarcocystis singaporensis) that has been used as a biologic control agent for Rattus spp. in southeast Asia. It is probable that increasing numbers of invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in the Florida Keys are contributing to the spread of this parasite in addition to imposing predation pressure on both rodents and native snakes. As such, further surveillance and molecular and morphologic characterization of parasites from rodents and snakes in south Florida should be prioritized.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7589\/jwd-d-24-00041","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,31]],"date-time":"2025-01-31T07:42:07Z","timestamp":1738309327000},"page":"180-185","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["High Prevalence of Sarcocystis in a Collapsed Black Rat (Rattus rattus) Population from the Florida Keys, Florida, USA"],"prefix":"10.7589","volume":"61","author":[{"given":"Brandon M.","family":"McDonald","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 1745 McCarty Drive, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael V.","family":"Cove","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, 11 W. Jones St., Raleigh, North Carolina, 27601, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mark G.","family":"Ruder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael J.","family":"Yabsley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kayla B.","family":"Garrett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alec T.","family":"Thompson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicole M.","family":"Nemeth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jeremy D.","family":"Dixon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 10750 County Road 905, Key Largo, Florida 33037, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcus A.","family":"Lashley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 1745 McCarty Drive, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"4415","reference":[{"key":"13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"M Kearse, R Moir, A Wilson, et al.  \"Bioinformatics.\"  28, \"Geneious Basic: an integrated and extendable desktop software platform for the organization and analysis of sequence data.\" 1647 (2012)","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/bts199"},{"key":"1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"HP Andreassen, J Sundell, F Ecke, et al.  \"Oecologia.\"  195, \"Population cycles and outbreaks of small rodents: Ten essential questions we still need to solve.\" 601 (2021)","DOI":"10.1007\/s00442-020-04810-w"},{"key":"2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"DB Barbour  and SR Humphrey  \"J Mamm.\"  63, \"Status and habitat of the Key Largo woodrat and cotton mouse (Neotoma floridana smalli and Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola).\" 144 (1982)","DOI":"10.2307\/1380680"},{"key":"3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"TL Bezerra, RM Soares, LFP Gondim,  \"Parasitologia.\"  3, \"Sarcocystis species (Apicomplexa, Euccocidiorida) parasitizing snakes.\" 327 (2023)","DOI":"10.3390\/parasitologia3040032"},{"key":"4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Y Chen, W Ye, Y Zhang, et al.  \"Nucleic Acids Res.\"  43, \"High speed BLASTN: An accelerated MegaBLAST search tool.\" 7762 (2015)","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkv784"},{"key":"5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"MV Cove, TR Simons, B Gardner, et al.  \"Restor Ecol.\"  25, \"Evaluating nest supplementation as a recovery strategy for the endangered rodents of the Florida Keys.\" 253 (2017)","DOI":"10.1111\/rec.12418"},{"key":"7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"DJ Herrera, JD Dixon, MV Cove,  \"Glob Ecol Conserv.\"  40, \"Long-term monitoring reveals the value of continuous trapping to curtail the effects of free-roaming cats in protected island habitats.\" e02334 (2022)","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gecco.2022.e02334"},{"key":"8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"SL. 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(2019)","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biocon.2019.07.032"}],"container-title":["Journal of Wildlife Diseases"],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T23:37:58Z","timestamp":1791243478000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/bioone.org\/journals\/journal-of-wildlife-diseases\/volume-61\/issue-1\/JWD-D-24-00041\/High-Prevalence-of-Sarcocystis-in-a-Collapsed-Black-Rat-Rattus\/10.7589\/JWD-D-24-00041.full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,31]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7589\/jwd-d-24-00041","relation":{},"ISSN":["0090-3558","1943-3700"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0090-3558","type":"print"},{"value":"1943-3700","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,31]]}}}