Plasmodium giganteum

Plasmodium giganteum is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Sauramoeba.

Like all Plasmodium species P. giganteum has both vertebrate and insect hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are reptiles.

Plasmodium giganteum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Protista
Phylum: Apicomplexa
Class: Aconoidasida
Order: Haemosporida
Family: Plasmodiidae
Genus: Plasmodium
Species: P. giganteum
Binomial name
Plasmodium giganteum

Description

The parasite was first described by Theiler in 1930.

P. giganteum blood-stage parasites are described as being 2 to 6 times as large as the host cell nucleus. The gametocytes are round and elongated.[1]

Geographical occurrence

P. giganteum has only been described in Gbanga, Liberia.[1]

Hosts

P. giganteum infects the rainbow lizard (Agama agama), as well as Agama mossambica and Agama cyanogaster.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Telford SR (2009). Hemoparasites of the Reptilia: Color Atlas and Text. CRC Press. p. 14. ISBN 9781420080407.

Further reading

Schall, JJ; Bromwich, CR (April 1994). "Interspecific interactions tested: two species of malarial parasite in a West African lizard". Oecologia. 97 (3): 326–332. doi:10.1007/BF00317322. 


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.