''Filipodium'' is a genus of

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

s in the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclatu ...

Apicomplexa The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. The ...

. Species in this genus infect marine invertebrates. This genus was described by Hukui in 1939.

Taxonomy

The type species is ''Filipodium ozakai''.

Description

The

mucron A ''mucron'' is an attachment organelle found in archigregarines - an order of epicellular parasitic Conoidasida.Simdyanov TG, Guillou L, Diakin AY, Mikhailov KV, Schrével J, Aleoshin VV. (2017) A new view on the morphology and phylogeny of eugre ...

is broadly funnel-shaped with papillae around its rim. The gamonts are elongate, with longitudinal striations and with many protrusible filaments emerging from beneath the pellicle. The gametocysts have numerous oocysts. The gametes are dissimilar: the male gametes are not flagellated. The oocysts are ellipsoidal or ovoid and have 8 sporozoites.

Life cycle

The species infects sipunculid worms. The parasite infects the gastrointestinal tract and is presumably transmitted by the orofaecal route but the details of this mechanism are presently unknown.

Host record

*''F. ozakii'' — '' Siphonosoma kumanense''

References

Apicomplexa genera {{Apicomplexa-stub