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Besnoitia (Protozoa: Toxoplasmea) in lizards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

P. C. C. Garnham
P. C. C. Garnham
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
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Extract

Besnoitia sauriana sp.nov. is described from the tissues and organs of Basiliscus vittatus, with the type locality Baking Pot, British Honduras. It is placed in a new family, Besnoitiidae in the order Toxoplasmea.

The proliferative stage is thought to take place in the alveoli of the lungs. The cystic stage begins as the greatly altered host cell, containing a single round or oval body. The host-cell membrane becomes greatly thickened, the nuclei multiply and enlarge and the cytoplasm assumes a granular texture. The parasites (‘spores’) multiply by binary fission, enclosed in a fine membrane, within this cell, which eventually they entirely fill.

The ‘spores’ easily contaminate the blood and may be mistaken for Schellackia or Toxoplasma in blood smears of infected lizards.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , May 1966 , pp. 329 - 334
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1966

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References

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