Gregarina lutescens n. sp. is described from the alimentary canal of the harlequin ladybird or multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) collected from prairie fleabane, Erigeron strigosus, at Peru State College, Peru, Nemaha Co., Nebraska. Our specimens differ from all 11 known species of Gregarina infecting coccinellid beetles worldwide by differences in size and relative shape, color, and association structure. Gregarina lutescens n. sp. is smaller than 7 known species infecting coccinellid beetles but larger than the other 4 known species based on confidence interval exclusion of means. Our specimens are unique among known species of interest in their quince-yellow cytoplasm and precocious but ephemeral serial associations of up to 5 satellites. Nucleotide sequence (18S) phylogenetic analyses place the new species basal to a member of an internal clade of Gregarina that comprises gregarines parasitizing chrysomelid beetles. Phylogenetically, the analysis recovered 3 major lineages within the gregarines, representing the superfamilies Gregarinoidea, Stenophoroidea, and Stylocephaloidea and indicating the propensity of gregarines to track host lineages and environments through evolutionary time. These findings confirm the polyphyletic nature of Gregarina, which currently comprises over 300 described species, only a handful of which have documented genetic sequences suitable for phylogenetic analysis. Recollection, redescription, and molecular clarification of gregarine species infecting coccinellids would likely result in identification of a unique clade that would be an excellent system for studying the effect of intraguild host competition on parasite diversification and community structure. Ecologically, patterns of prevalence in this study indicate that G. lutescens reproduces primarily in larval hosts but depends on infections in adult beetles to overwinter, reflecting the differential vagility and frost tolerance of larval and adult host life cycle stages.

Gregarina lutescens n. 黄体 sp。描述自丑角瓢虫或多彩亚洲瓢虫Harmonia axyridis （鞘翅目：瓢虫科）的消化道，采集自草原蓬蓬，Eigeron strigosus，内布拉斯加州秘鲁州立学院内马哈公司。我们的标本与全球所有 11 种已知的感染瓢虫的Gregarina物种的不同之处在于大小、相对形状、颜色和关联结构的差异。Gregarina lutescens n. 黄体 sp。根据均值置信区间排除，小于感染瓢虫的 7 个已知物种，但大于其他 4 个已知物种。我们的标本在已知的感兴趣物种中是独一无二的，因为它们的柑橘黄色细胞质和早熟但短暂的最多 5 个卫星的序列关联。核苷酸序列 (18 S ) 系统发育分析将新物种定位为Gregarina内部进化枝的成员，该内部进化枝由寄生叶甲虫的 Gregarines 组成。从系统发育角度来看，该分析恢复了羿类中的 3 个主要谱系，代表总科 Gregarinoidea、Stenophoroidea 和 Stylocephaloidea，并表明了羿类在进化过程中追踪宿主谱系和环境的倾向。这些发现证实了Gregarina的多系性质，目前已描述的 Gregarina 包括 300 多个物种，其中只有少数物种记录了适合系统发育分析的基因序列。对感染瓢虫的缰毛虫物种进行回忆、重新描述和分子澄清可能会导致鉴定出一个独特的进化枝，该进化枝将成为研究群内宿主竞争对寄生虫多样化和群落结构影响的极好系统。从生态学角度来看，本研究中的流行模式表明，G. lutescens主要在幼虫宿主中繁殖，但依赖成虫的感染来越冬，反映了幼虫和成虫宿主生命周期阶段的不同的灵活性和耐霜性。