Plasmodium lionatum 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 Asiamoeba

Asiamoeba

Asiamoeba is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium - all of which are parastic protozoa. The subgenus was created by Telford in 1988. Species in this subgenus infect lizards.- Diagnostic features :...

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Like all Plasmodium species P. achiotense 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 lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

s.

Description

The parasite was first described by Telford in 1982.

The asexual stages rarely disturb the host cell. The gametocytes may distort the cell or displace the nucleus.

Mature schizonts are 4.0 - 6.0 micrometres x 1.5 - 3.0 micrometres in size and give rise to 4-6 merozoites. Schizonts tend to lie lateral to the nucleus.

The mature gametocytes vary in size: 5.0 - 12.0 x 2.0 - 6.0 micrometres and tend to be elongated in shape.

Clinical features and host pathology

The only known host is the flying gecko (Ptychozoon lionatum)