''Plasmodium tenue'' 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 ''
Novyella
''Novyella'' is a subgenus of the genus ''Plasmodium'' - all of which are parasites. The subgenus was created in 1963 by Corradetti ''et al.'' Species in this subgenus infect birds. It unites the avian malaria parasites with small erythrocytic m ...
''.
This species is unusual in that the same specific name was used in two distinct papers published in the same year. It is currently thought that the species description by Stephens in man is likely to have been an artifact and that the accepted valid species is the one described from birds.
This name still occurs in the literature for species found in humans that look atypical.
[Kawamoto F, Win TT, Mizuno S, Lin K, Kyaw O, Tantulart IS, Mason DP, Kimura M, Wongsrichanalai C. (2002) Unusual plasmodium malariae-like parasites in southeast Asia. J. Parasitol. 88(2):350-357] It is a member of the subgenus ''
Novyella
''Novyella'' is a subgenus of the genus ''Plasmodium'' - all of which are parasites. The subgenus was created in 1963 by Corradetti ''et al.'' Species in this subgenus infect birds. It unites the avian malaria parasites with small erythrocytic m ...
''.
Further adding to the confusion concerning this species, it is sometimes referred to as ''Plasmodium tenuis''
Taxonomy
This species was first described by Stephens in 1914.
[Stephens, J. W. W. (1914) A new malarial parasite of man. Ann. Trop. Med. Parasit. viii, 119.] The same name was used by Laveran and Marullaz also in 1914
[Laveran, A. and Marullaz, M. (1914) Sur deux hemamibes et un toxoplasme du ''Liothrix luteus''. Bull. Soc. Path. Exot. 7, 21–25.] which described this species in a babbler (''
Leiothrix lutea'').
Description
The bird species usually produces 4 merozoites per segmenter, but often as many as 6; rarely it gives rise to only 2 - 3.
The gametocytes are elongate.
Neither sexual nor asexual stages displace the host cell nucleus.
Hosts
The known hosts of this species include the babblers ''
Leiothrix lutea'' and ''
Garrulax canorus taewanus''.
References
tenue
Parasites of birds
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