Plasmodium bioccai Chavatte & Landau, 2007

Chavatte, Jean-Marc, Grès, Virginie, Snounou, Georges, Chabaud, Alain & Landau, Irène, 2009, Plasmodium (Apicomplexa) of the skylark (Alauda arvensis), Zoosystema 31 (2), pp. 369-383 : 372

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5252/z2009n2a8
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6029414C-FF9A-3A62-D937-FE64FB94FA03
treatment provided by	Marcus
scientific name	Plasmodium bioccai Chavatte & Landau, 2007
status

Treatment

Plasmodium bioccai Chavatte & Landau, 2007 ( Fig. 1A View FIG )

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — France. Landes , Saint-Julienen-Born, 44°03’42’’N, 1°13’33’’W, blood smears of A. arvensis number 738U, 25.X.1996 ( MNHN P2 About MNHN -XXV, 1-23) GoogleMaps ; 741U, 25.X.1996 ( MNHN P2 About MNHN -XXV, 44-64) .

DISTRIBUTION. — Seine-Saint-Denis, France ( Chavatte et al. 2007); new record for the Landes, France.

HOSTS. — Pica pica (type host) ; new record for Alauda arvensis .

REMARKS

This species is comparable to that described in the magpie. The parasites lie in a rounded, prematurely hypertrophied and non-discoloured RBC with a condensed ellipsoid nucleus displaced to one of the edges. The schizonts are regular in shape, rounded or approximately oval with smooth contours. The chromatin, initially as granular masses of variable sizes, progressively fragments into distinct nuclei.The pigment is fine, loosely assembled in irregular rows, though agglomerated in some areas. Two mature schizonts were observed with 26 nuclei dispersed in the cytoplasm. The gametocytes lead to the same RBC modification as do the schizonts.

Plasmodium coluzzii Chavatte & Landau , n. sp. ( Fig. 1B View FIG )

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype: France. Landes , Saint- Julien-en-Born, 44°03’42’’N, 1°13’33’’W, blood smear of A. arvensis number 741U, 25.X.1996 ( MNHN 440 About MNHN LV PXIII, 61) ( Fig. 3I View FIG ). GoogleMaps

Paratypes: same data as holotype, blood smears of A. arvensis number 738U, 25.X.1996 ( MNHN P2 About MNHN -XXV, 1-23) GoogleMaps ; 740U, 25.X.1996 ( MNHN P2 About MNHN -XXV, 24-43) ; 741U, 25.X.1996 ( MNHN P2 About MNHN -XXV, 44-64) .

ETYMOLOGY. — This species is dedicated to the memory of Alberto Coluzzi.

DISTRIBUTION. — Known only from the type locality, Saint-Julien-en-Born, Landes, France.

HOST. — Alauda arvensis (type host).

DESCRIPTION

The young schizonts cover ¹⁄ to ⅓ of the slightly enlarged RBC, where the median or sub-median nucleus is tilted sideways. The RBC rounds up as the schizonts mature, pushing the host nucleus to the edge of the cell, and often the parasites are found in RBCs without nucleus. Throughout schizont maturation, chromatin occurs as a peripheral crown in which one distinguishes granules and little nuclei around a clear vacuolated centre. The pigment in the more mature stages forms rough aggregates of agglomerated granules. The most characteristic stage is round in a rounded enucleate RBC, with the parasite nuclei tightly packed around a clear sinuous centre. Fully mature stages were not seen, and the number of nuclei is estimated to exceed 30.

Gametocytes are large and round and are often found in RBCs devoid of nuclei.

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS

Plasmodium coluzzii n. sp. should be compared to P.bioccai ,a parasite described in the magpie and found in the skylark. The two species differ by the smaller size of the schizonts of P. coluzzii n. sp. where the immature forms have dispersed and diffuse chromatin, features that contrast with the well-defined nuclei that can be observed even in the young schizonts of P. bioccai . The RBC nuclei, present in P. bioccai , are often absent in P. coluzzii n. sp.

Some schizonts similar to those of P.coluzzii n. sp. had been observed in the magpie studied by Chavatte et al. (2007), but the paucity in the numbers observed had not allowed to distinguish the species.