The ''Platyproteum'' are a genus of

parasitic 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 c ...

alveolates in the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature f ...

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. T ...

. Species in this genus infect marine invertebrates.

Taxonomy

This genus was created in 2009 by Sonja Reuckert and Brian Leander. There is one species in this genus - ''Platyproteum vivax''. This species was moved from the genus '' Selenidium''. It appears to be related to '' Filipodium phascolosomae''.

Description

This parasite is tape like.

Life cycle

The parasite infects the gastrointestinal tract and is presumably transmitted by the orofaecal route but the details of this mechanism are presently unknown.

References

Conoidasida Apicomplexa genera {{Apicomplexa-stub