''Dactylosoma'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of parasitic

alveolates The alveolates (meaning "pitted like a honeycomb") are a group of protists, considered a major clade and superphylum within Eukarya. They are currently grouped with the stramenopiles and Rhizaria among the protists with tubulocristate mitochond ...

of the phylum

Apicomplexia The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. ...

. Species in this genus have two hosts in their life cycle: the

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

host is a

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

or amphibian (possibly also reptiles) and the

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

host is a glossiphoniid leech ('' Glossiphoniidae'').

Taxonomy

This genus was described by Labbé in 1894. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

is ''Dactylosoma ranarum''.

Description

Merogony Apicomplexans, a group of intracellular parasites, have life cycle stages that allow them to survive the wide variety of environments they are exposed to during their complex life cycle. Each stage in the life cycle of an apicomplexan organism i ...

Schizont Apicomplexans, a group of intracellular parasites, have life cycle stages that allow them to survive the wide variety of environments they are exposed to during their complex life cycle. Each stage in the life cycle of an apicomplexan organism is ...

s in this genus produce 6 to 16

merozoite Apicomplexans, a group of intracellular parasites, have life cycle stages that allow them to survive the wide variety of environments they are exposed to during their complex life cycle. Each stage in the life cycle of an apicomplexan organism is ...

s by simultaneous exogenous budding. These typically are found in a fan shaped arrangement. This occurs within the

erythrocyte Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

s. Secondary merogony produces 6 smaller merozoites that are destined to become intraerythrocytic gamonts.

Gametogony Apicomplexans, a group of intracellular parasites, have life cycle stages that allow them to survive the wide variety of environments they are exposed to during their complex life cycle. Each stage in the life cycle of an apicomplexan organism i ...

: The

gametocyte A gametocyte is a eukaryotic germ cell that divides by mitosis into other gametocytes or by meiosis into gametids during gametogenesis. Male gametocytes are called ''spermatocytes'', and female gametocytes are called ''oocytes''. Development ...

s are larger, elongated forms derived from some of the

s. Oocysts are formed after fertilization in the leech intestine. 30 or more

sporozoite Apicomplexans, a group of intracellular parasites, have life cycle stages that allow them to survive the wide variety of environments they are exposed to during their complex life cycle. Each stage in the life cycle of an apicomplexan organism is ...

s are produced by exogenous budding directly in the

cytoplasm In cell biology, the cytoplasm is all of the material within a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus. The material inside the nucleus and contained within the nuclear membrane is termed the nucleoplasm. ...

of the intestinal epithelial cells. No oocyst wall is formed.

Species

Úngari et al. (2020) recognised six species of ''Dactylosoma'' known globally. Two of these are described from fish hosts, and the remaining four species from anuran hosts, namely ''Dactylosoma ranarum'' (Kruse, 1890) described from the European frog ''Pelophylax'' kl. ''esculentus''; ''Dactylosoma sylvatica'' Fanthan, Porter and Richardson, 1942 reported in '' Lithobates sylvatica'' from Quebec, Canada; ''Dactylosoma taiwanensis'' Manwell, 1964 described infecting ''

Fejervarya limnocharis ''Fejervarya limnocharis'' is a species of frog found in South East Asia and parts of Indochina. It is known under many common names, including Boie's wart frog, rice field frog, and Asian grass frog. Molecular studies of the species complex (aft ...

'' collected in Taiwan; and ''Dactylosoma kermiti'' described infecting the anurans, '' Ptychadena anchietae'' and '' Sclerophrys gutturalis'' from South Africa. ''Dactylosoma piperis'' was described in 2020 from the pepper frog ''

Leptodactylus labyrinthicus ''Leptodactylus labyrinthicus'' is a species of frog in the family Leptodactylidae. Its common names are labyrinth frog, pepper frog, South American pepper frog, and pepper foam frog. This frog is found in central and southeastern Brazil, northe ...

'' (Anura, Leptodactylidae) from Mato Grosso State,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

References

Apicomplexa genera {{Apicomplexa-stub