Adelina is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of protozoa

Protozoa

Protozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...

 within the phylum Apicomplexa

Apicomplexa

The Apicomplexa are a large group of protists, most of which possess a unique organelle called apicoplast and an apical complex structure involved in penetrating a host's cell. They are unicellular, spore-forming, and exclusively parasites of animals. Motile structures such as flagella or...

. They are coccidian parasites of of arthropod

Arthropod

An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...

s and oligochaetes. Host orders include Coleoptera, Diptera

Diptera

Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...

, Collembola, Embioptera

Embioptera

The order Embioptera, commonly known as webspinners, are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the subclass Pterygota. The order has also been referred to as Embiodea or Embiidina...

, Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

and Orthoptera

Orthoptera

Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.Many insects in this order produce sound by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps...

.

History

The genus was created by Hesse in 1911 to accommodate a number of species within the genus Adelea that differed significantly: the sporocysts in Adelina are fewer in number than in Adelea and are spherical instead of being discoidal. The type species is Adelina octospora Hesse 1911

General features

Members of this genus have spherical or subspherical oocysts. The sporocyst

Sporocyst

Sporocyst is a common name of a lifecycle stage in two unrelated groups of species:*Apicomplexa parasites: see Apicomplexa lifecycle stages*Trematode flatworms: see Trematode lifecycle stages...

s are spherical and thick-walled.