''Plasmodium uzungwiense'' is a parasite of the genius ''

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 ''

Lacertamoeba ''Lacertamoeba'' is a subgenus of the genus ''Plasmodium'' — all of which are parasites. All species in this subgenus infect reptiles. Taxonomy This subgenus was created by Telford to refine the classification of species then given as ''Plasm ...

''. Like all ''Plasmodium'' species ''P. uzungwiense'' 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

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

Description

The parasite was first described by Telford in 1988.Telford SR Jr. (1988) Studies on African saurian malarias: five Plasmodium species from chamaeleons of the Uzungwe Mountains, Tanzania. Int. J. Parasitol. 18(2):197-219

Geographical occurrence

This species was described in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

Clinical features and host pathology

The only known hosts are

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...

s (''

Chamaeleo ''Chamaeleo'' is a genus of chameleons in the family Chamaeleonidae. Most species of the genus ''Chamaeleo'' are found in sub-Saharan Africa, but a few species are also present in northern Africa, southern Europe, and southern Asia east to Indi ...

'' species)

References

uzungwiense {{plasmodium-stub