''Plasmodium diploglossi'' 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 '' Sauramoeba''. As in all ''Plasmodium'' species, ''P. diploglossi'' 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.

Taxonomy

The parasite was first described by Aragio and Neiva in 1909. It is the type species of the subgenus ''Sauramoeba''.

Description

Pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...

does not occupy a distinct

vacuole A vacuole () is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal, and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic m ...

but may be clumped. The large

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 considerably enlarge 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 may completely encircle the host cell

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 Nucl ...

. The mature

gametocyte A gametocyte is a eukaryotic germ cell that divides by mitosis into other gametocytes or by meiosis into gametids during gametogenesis. Male gametocytes are called ''spermatocytes'', and female gametocytes are called ''oocytes''. Development ...

s are broad. Like the schizonts, the gametocytes may almost encircle the host cell nucleus. A small cytoplasmic vacuole may be present in some gametocytes.

Distribution

This species is found in eastern

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 ...

.Telford, Jr. S. R. (2007) Saurian malarial parasites in eastern Panama. J. Euk. Microbiol. 17(4):566-574

Hosts

This species infects the anguid lizard '' Diploglossus fasciatus'' and ''

Mabuya mabouya The Greater Martinique skink (''Mabuya mabouya'') is a species of skink found on Martinique. It has shiny, bronze-colored skin, with a pair of light stripes that run along its upper flanks. It was previously thought to be widespread throughou ...

''.

References

diploglossi {{plasmodium-stub