The Ophryocystidae are a family of
parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
s in the
phylum Apicomplexa
The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. Th ...
.
[Leger L (1907) Les schizogregarines des tracheates. L Le genre Ophryocystis. Arch. Prot. 8: 159-202] Species in this family infect
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 ...
s (
Coleoptera and
Lepidoptera).
History
This family was created by Léger and Duboscq in 1908.
Taxonomy
One genus is placed in this family - ''
Ophryocystis'' - with at least 10 species. This is the type family of the order ''
Neogregarinorida
The Neogregarinorida are an order of parasitic alveolates in the phylum Apicomplexa. Species in this order infect insects and are usually found in the fat body, hemolymph, hypodermis, intestine or Malpighian tubules. The most common site of infec ...
''.
Lifecycle
Most species in this family infect the
Malpighian tubes of
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
s.
The
trophozoite A trophozoite (G. ''trope'', nourishment + ''zoon'', animal) is the activated, feeding stage in the life cycle of certain protozoa such as malaria-causing ''Plasmodium falciparum'' and those of the ''Giardia'' group. (The complement of the trophozoi ...
is conical in shape.
Two types of
schizogony occur in this family. In the first type the
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 divide into
merozoite
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 with small nuclei. These are known as mycetoids merozoites. These develop into trophozoites. In the second form and more common form, the schizonts divide into merozoites with large nuclei: these are known as gregarinoid merozoites and give rise to
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.
The merozoites are