''Plasmodium guyannense'' 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
''Sauramoeba'' is a subgenus of the genus ''Plasmodium'', all of which are parasitic eukaryotes. The subgenus was created in 1966 by Garnham. Species in this subgenus infect reptiles.
Description
The original criterion for inclusion in this ...
''. As in all ''Plasmodium'' species, ''P. guyannense'' 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 Telford in 1979.
[Telford SR Jr. (1979) A taxonomic reconsideration of some ''Plasmodium'' species from iguanid lizards. Ann. Parasitol. Hum. Comp. 54(2):129-144] This species had previously been considered to be ''
Plasmodium cnemidophori
''Plasmodium cnemidophori'' is a parasite of the genus ''Plasmodium'' subgenus '' Sauramoeba''. As in all ''Plasmodium'' species, ''P. cnemidophori'' has both vertebrate and insect hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are lizards.
Des ...
''.
Description
Young trophozoites contain prominent vacuoles.
Schizonts contain 40 to 74 nuclei and have pigment.
Distribution
This species is found in Guyana, South America.
Hosts
The only known host is the lizard ''
Plica plica
''Plica plica'' is a species of lizard in the family Tropiduridae, the Neotropical ground lizards. Its common names include collared tree lizard,Henderson RW, Murphy JC (2012)"The Collared Tree Lizard, ''Plica plica'' (Tropiduridae), on Grenada" ...
''.
References
guyannense
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