''Plasmodium diminutivum'' is a

parasite 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 ...

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 ''

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. diminutivum'' 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 reptiles.

Description

This species was described by Telford in 1973.S. R. Telford, Jr. ( 1973) Malaria parasites of the “Borriguerro” lizard, ''Ameiva ameiva'' (Sauria: Teiidae) in Panama. J. Protozol. 20(2) 203-207 The parasites have no apparent effect on the host

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 ...

and tend to lie in a polar or lateral position within the host cell. This species appears to infect only mature cells. The

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 are initially round to oval but as they mature become fan shaped with a pigment mass forming the handle of the fan. Mature schizonts measure 4.1 +/- 0.2 (range: 3-4) micrometres x 3.1 +/- 0.1 (range: (3-4) micrometres and contain 4-6

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. Mature gametocytes are round to oval and measure 5.6 +/- 0.2 (range: 5-7) micrometres x 4.8 +/- 0.2 (range: 4-6) micrometres. Vacuoles are rarely seen.

Geographical occurrence

This species occurs in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

Clinical features and host pathology

The only known host is 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 America, Central, South America, and some Caribbean Islands. Geogr ...

''.

References

diminutivum {{plasmodium-stub