''Plasmodium octamerium'' 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 ''

Giovannolaia ''Giovanolaia'' is a subgenus of the genus ''Plasmodium'' created by Corradetti ''et al.'' in 1963. The parasites within this subgenus infect birds. This subgenus was shown on the basis of DNA analysis to be polyphyletic. This is unsurprising � ...

''. Like all ''Plasmodium'' species ''P. octamerium'' 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

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 lightweigh ...

Taxonomy

The parasite was first described by Manwell in 1968.Manwell R. D. (1968) ''Plasmodium octamerium'' n. sp., an avian malaria parasite from the pintail whydah bird ''Vidua macroura''. J. Protozool. 15(4):680-685

Distribution

This species was described in Africa and has also been reported in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Hosts

Known hosts for this parasite include the pintail whydah bird ('' Vidua macroura'') and the greater blue-eared glossy starling ('' Lamprotornis chalybaeus'').Paperna I., Martelli P. (2008) Haemosporidian infections in captive exotic glossy starling ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus'' in Hong Kong. Folia Parasitol (Praha)

References

octamerium Parasites of birds {{plasmodium-stub