Diversity of Species in Wild Chamois spp.: A Statistical Approach in Morphological Taxonomy.

Wildlife is frequently infected by intestinal protozoa, which may threaten their fitness and health. A diverse community of species is known to occur in the digestive tract of mountain-dwelling ungulates, including chamois (genus ). However, available data on diversity in these taxa is at times inconsistent and mostly dated. In the present study, we aimed to revisit the occurrence of spp. in the Alpine subspecies of the Northern chamois () and the Apennine subspecies of the Southern chamois () in Italy, using an integrated approach based on a hierarchical cluster analysis (HCPC) applied to oocyst morphology and morphometry. A total of 352 fecal samples were collected from ( = 262) and ( = 90). Overall, 85.3% (300/352) of the animals tested microscopically positive to spp. Based on morphological analysis, we identified all the eimerian species described in chamois. Through the HCPC method, five clusters were generated, corresponding to (two different clusters), and morphotypes. The well-defined clusters within support the existence of two distinct morphological groups, possibly referable to different taxonomic units. This study suggests that combining a morphometrical approach with a powerful statistical method may be helpful to disentangle uncertainties in the morphology of oocysts and to address taxonomic studies of eimeriid protozoa at a specific host taxon level.