''Veloxidium'' is 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. Species in this genus infect marine invertebrates.

Taxonomy

This species was described in 2012 by Wakeman and Leander.Wakeman KC, Leander BS (2012) Molecular phylogeny of Pacific Archigregarines (Apicomplexa), including descriptions of ''Veloxidium leptosynaptae'' ''n. gen.'', ''n. sp.'', from the sea cucumber Leptosynapta clarki (Echinodermata), and two new species of ''Selenidium''. J Eukaryot Microbiol 59(3):232-45. There is one species in this genus - ''Veloxidium leptosynaptae''.

Description

This species infects the sea cucumber '' Leptosynapta clarki''.

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

Apicomplexa genera {{Apicomplexa-stub