''Plasmodium attenuatum'' is a parasite of the genus ''

Plasmodium ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vert ...

'' subgenus ''

Carinamoeba ''Carinamoeba'' is a subgenus of the genus ''Plasmodium'' - all of which are parasitic unicellular eukaryotes. The subgenus was created in 1966 by Garnham.Garnham P.C.C. (1966) Malaria parasttes and other haemospordia. Oxford, Blackwell Species ...

''. Like all ''Plasmodium'' species ''P. attenuatum'' has both

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, ...

and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

Taxonomy

The parasite was first described by Telford in 1973.

Distribution

This species is found in Venezuela.

Hosts

This species infects the lizard ''

Ameiva ameiva ''Ameiva ameiva'', also known as the giant ameiva, green ameiva, South American ground lizard, or Amazon racerunner, is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae found in Central, South America, and some Caribbean Islands. Geographic range It ...

''.

References

atheruri {{plasmodium-stub