Plasmodium hegneri is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium

Plasmodium

Plasmodium is a genus of parasitic protists. Infection by these organisms is known as malaria. The genus Plasmodium was described in 1885 by Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli. Currently over 200 species of this genus are recognized and new species continue to be described.Of the over 200 known...

subgenus Giovannolaia

Giovannolaia

Giovanolaia is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium created by Corradetti et al. in 1963. The parasites within this subgenus infect birds.- Diagnostic features :Species in the subgenus Giovanolaia have the following characteristics:...

.

Like all Plasmodium species P. hegneri has both vertebrate

Vertebrate

Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...

 and insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

 hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s.

Description

The parasite was first described by Manwell and Kuntz in 1966.

It is related to the following species

Plasmodium asanum

Plasmodium circumflexum

Plasmodium circumflexum

Plasmodium circumflexum is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.Like all Plasmodium species P. circumflexum has both vertebrate and insect hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are birds.-Description:...

Plasmodium durae

Plasmodium durae

Plasmodium durae is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.Like all Plasmodium species P. durae has both vertebrate and insect hosts...

Plasmodium fallax

Plasmodium fallax

Plasmodium fallax is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.Like all Plasmodium species P. fallax has both vertebrate and insect hosts...

Plasmodium formosanum

Plasmodium gabaldoni

Plasmodium gabaldoni

Plasmodium gabaldoni is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.Like all Plasmodium species P. gabaldoni has both vertebrate and insect hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are birds.- Description :...

Plasmodium lophrae

Plasmodium lophrae

Plasmodium pediocetti

Plasmodium pinotti

Plasmodium pinotti

Plasmodium pinotti is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.Like all Plasmodium species P. pinotti has both vertebrate and insect hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are birds.- Description :...

Plasmodium polare

Plasmodium polare

Plasmodium polare is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.Like all Plasmodium species P. polare has both vertebrate and insect hosts...

Geographical occurrence

This species was originally isolated in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 but is likely to be much more widespread.

Clinical features and host pathology

This species infects the common or European teal

Common Teal

The Eurasian Teal or Common Teal is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurasia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian Teal is often called simply the Teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range...

 (Anas crecca).