Plasmodium iguanae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plasmodium iguanae is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium.

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

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

Contents

[edit] Description

The parasite was first described by Telford in 1980. [1]

The schizonts have 6 to 25 nuclei and are heavily pigmented when in erythrocytes.

The gametocytes are round to oval, prominently pigmented and exceed the host cell nucleus in size, are more commonly found in pro-erythrocytes than in mature cells.

[edit] Geographical occurrence

This species is found in Venezuela.

[edit] Clinical features and host pathology

The only known host species is the lizard Iguana iguana iguana

[edit] References

  1. ^ Telford, S. R, Jr (1980) The saurian malarias of Venezuela: Plasmodium species from iguanid and teiid hosts. Int. J. Parasitol. 10(5/6): 365-374
This protist-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.