What is E. Cuniculi exactly?

[LassieBunBun]

I don't know if this is the right post for this thread/post but I was watching Critter Fixers last night and one of the doctors said the rabbit he was treating had E. Cuniculi and the narrator said that ear mites and E. Cuniculi were the same thing but my research told me they're not? But I don't fully understand it so I'm just looking for some help on what it is in simple terms. (I'm not very smart.) Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JBun]

They aren't the same thing. Mites are an external invertebrate parasite with an exoskeleton, that affects a rabbits skin. E. cuniculi is an internal microsporidial fungi, that affects the internal cells and organs of a rabbit. The confusion may be in the name being similar. The ear mite is psoroptes cuniculi, and EC is encephalitozoon cuniculi. Though the last part is the same, they are in no way related or similar.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mites_of_livestock
Medirabbit: ear mites

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitozoon_cuniculi
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Encephalitozoon_cuniculi
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/E._cuniculi_Series

 

[ZipperNipper]

LassieBunBun, you're smart enough to notice something off and to ask the question. Freaking genius in my book! And now the rest of us know too.