''Dorisa'' is a genus of

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

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 mitochondr ...

in the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature f ...

Apicomplexa 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. T ...

. The genus was separated from the genus ''

Dorisiella ''Dorisiella'' is a genus of parasitic alveolates belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa. This genus was created in 1930 by Ray.Ray HN (1930) Studies on some sporozoa in polychaete worms. II. ''Dorisiella scolelepidis'', n. gen., n. sp. Parasitology ...

'' by Levine in 1908.Levine ND (1980) ''Dorisa'' n. gen. (Protozoa, Apicomplexa, Eimeriidae). J Parasitol 66(1):11 ''Dorisiella'' was created for a parasite infecting a marine

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class (biology), class of generally marine invertebrate, marine annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that ...

by Ray in 1930. Levine separated off a number of species that while morphologically similar occurred in vertebrates rather that polychaetes.

Life cycle

The species in this genus infect the gastrointestinal wall of vertebrates.

Description

Genus diagnosis is dependent on the

oocyst 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 ...

: there is a definite cell wall in this genus whereas in ''Dorisiella'' the oocyst wall is membrane like.

Host records

*''D. harpia'' - lesser hairy winged bat ('' Harpiocephalus harpia lasyurus'')

References

Apicomplexa genera {{Apicomplexa-stub