''Plasmodium coggeshalli'' 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 ver ...

'' subgenus '' Haemamoeba''. Like all ''Plasmodium'' species ''P. coggeshalli'' 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, with c ...

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 ...

hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

Taxonomy

The type specimen had been originally classified as '' Plasmodium lophurae'' but was described as a new species by Gres and Landau in 1997 based on morphology of the parasite and host cell.Gres V. and Landau I. (1997) Les Plasmodium de Lophura (Phasianidae) : redescription de ''P. lophurae'' Coggeshall, 1938 et description de deux nouvelles espèces. Zoosystema 19 (4) 545-555

References

coggeshalli Parasites of birds {{plasmodium-stub