The Ganymedidae are a family of parasites 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 ...

Taxonomy

There is one genus in this family - ''Ganymedes''. The type species for this family and genus is ''Ganymedes anaspidis''. Other species in this genus include ''Ganymedes oaklandi'' and ''Ganymedes themistos''.

History

This family was created by Huxley in 1910.Huxley JS (1910) On ''Ganymedes anaspidis'' (''nov. gen''., ''nov. sp''.), a gregarine from the digestive tract of ''Anaspides tasmaniæ'' (Thompson). J Cell Sci s2-55: 155-175

Description

Species in this taxon infect

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s. They are spread by the orofaecal route. The

trophozoites A trophozoite (G. ''trope'', nourishment + ''zoon'', animal) is the activated, feeding stage in the life cycle of certain protozoa such as malaria-causing '' Plasmodium falciparum'' and those of the '' Giardia'' group. (The complement of the trophoz ...

inhabit the gut lumen. They are cylindrical in shape with folds along the surface of the cell. The

nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucle ...

is central. The nucleus is off center. A spherical ball like structure may be present at the anterior end of the cell and connected to the body of the cell by a narrow neck. A cup like depression is present at the posterior end. After undergoing syzygy, the cells have two nuclei. This new form migrates to the

hepatopancreas The hepatopancreas, digestive gland or midgut gland is an organ of the digestive tract of arthropods and molluscs. It provides the functions which in mammals are provided separately by the liver and pancreas, including the production of digestive ...

via its openings into the junction of the fore and midgut. While within the hepatopancreas, the parasite encysts.

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 i ...

s have not been described.

References

Apicomplexa families {{Apicomplexa-stub