Elleipsisoma is a genus of parasites within the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; : phyla) is a level of classification, or taxonomic rank, that is below Kingdom (biology), kingdom and above Class (biology), class. Traditionally, in botany the term division (taxonomy), division has been used instead ...

Apicomplexia The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia; single: apicomplexan) are organisms of a large phylum of mainly parasitic Alveolata, alveolates. Most possess a unique form of organelle#Eukaryotic organelles, organelle structure that comprises a type o ...

History

This parasite was described in 1912 by Franca. This genus may have been described earlier by Graham-Smith The type species is ''Elleipsisoma thomsoni''

Hosts

This parasite infects the European mole (''

Talpa europaea The European mole (''Talpa europaea'') is a mammal of the order Eulipotyphla. It is also known as the common mole and the northern mole. This mole lives in a tunnel system, which it constantly extends. It uses these tunnels to hunt its prey. Un ...

''). It is most commonly found in the

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

and

lungs The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syste ...

. It may occasionally be found in the

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

and

spleen The spleen (, from Ancient Greek '' σπλήν'', splḗn) is an organ (biology), organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The spleen plays important roles in reg ...

Geographical distribution

This parasite is found in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Description

Parasitized red cells were larger than normal mature erythrocytes Electron microscopic studies have shown the presence of

rhoptries A rhoptry is a specialized secretory organelle. They are club-shaped organelles connected by thin necks to the extreme apical pole of the parasite. These organelles, like micronemes, are characteristic of the motile stages of Apicomplexa p ...

microneme Micronemes are secretory organelles, possessed by parasitic apicomplexans. Micronemes are located on the apical third of the protozoan body. They are surrounded by a typical unit membrane. On electron microscopy they have an electron-dense ma ...

s, polar ring,

microtubule Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nanometer, nm and have an inner diameter bet ...

s and a

conoid In geometry a conoid () is a ruled surface, whose rulings (lines) fulfill the additional conditions: :(1) All rulings are parallel to a plane, the '' directrix plane''. :(2) All rulings intersect a fixed line, the ''axis''. The conoid is a rig ...

Vectors

Possible vectors include the

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...

s ''

Eulaelaps stabularis ''Eulaelaps'' is a genus of mites in the family Haemogamasidae. Species * ''Eulaelaps arboricola'' Uchikawa, 1978 * ''Eulaelaps dremomydis'' Gu & Wang, 1984 * ''Eulaelaps feideri'' (Fain, 1962) * ''Eulaelaps heptacanthus'' Yang & Gu, 1985 * ''Eu ...

'', ''

Haemogamasus hirsutus ''Haemogamasus'' is a genus of mites in the family Haemogamasidae. In North America, they mostly infect rodents, in addition to other small mammals such as shrews, talpids, and Virginia opossums. An unidentified immature ''Haemogamasus'' has bee ...

'' and '' Haemogamasus nidi''.

References

Apicomplexa genera Conoidasida {{Apicomplexa-stub