Plasmodium chiricahuae 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 Lacertaemoba

Lacertaemoba

Lacertaemoba is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium - all of which are parasitic protozoa. All species in this subgenus infect reptiles.This subgenus was created by Telford to refine the classification of species then given as Plasmodium tropiduri...

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Like all Plasmodium species P. chiricahuae 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 reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

s.

Description

This species was described by Telford in 1970.

The schizonts rarely exceed the size of the nucleus

Cell nucleus

In cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...

 of the cell and produce 4-10 merozoites.

The gametocyte

Gametocyte

A gametocyte is a eukaryotic germ cell that divides by mitosis into other gametocytes or by meiosis into gametids during gametogenesis. Male gametocytes are called spermatocytes, and female gametocytes are called oocytes....

s are large (3-6 times the size of the nucleus of an uninfected cell) and almost fill the erythrocyte.

Geographical occurrence

This species is found in the south western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and probably also in northern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

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Clinical features and host pathology

This species infects spiny lizards of the genus Sceloporus.