Friday 3 August 2018

Parasitic protozoa

I'm reading a nice book on parasitology, Modern Parasitology, edited by F.E.G. Cox (2nd edition, 1993). It says that there are nearly 10,000 species of parasitic protozoa! They also give a nice outline classification of the parasitic protozoa: (in red are ones my team are interested in)

Kingdom Protista (Single-celled eukaryotes)

Group 1 : The flagellated protozoa (locomotion by flagella)

Phylum Kinetoplasta (1-2 flagella, kinetoplast present)
Order Trypanosomatida eg. Leishmania, Trypanosoma

Phylum Metamonada
Order Retortamonadida eg. Chilomastix, Retortamonas
Order Diplomonadida eg. Enteromonas, Giardia

Phylum Parabasalia
Order Trichomodadida eg. Dientmoeba, Histomonas, Trichomonas



Group 2 : The amoeboid protozoa (locomotion by pseudopodia)

Phylum Rhizopoda
Order Euamoebida eg. Entamoeba



Group 3 : The spore forming protozoa (no obvious means of locomotion)

Phylum Sporozoa (= Apicomplexa)
Order Eimeriida eg. Eimeria, Isospora, Sarcocystis, Toxoplasma
Order Haemosporidida eg. Plasmodium
Order Piroplasmida eg. Babesia, Theileria

Phylum Microsporidia
Order Microsporidida eg. Encephalitozoon, Nosema



Group 4 : The ciliated protozoa (locomotion by cilia)

Phylum Ciliophora
Order Trichostomatida eg. Balantidium

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