''Plasmodium heischi'' is a parasite of the genus ''

Plasmodium ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vert ...

'' subgenus ''

Sauramoeba ''Sauramoeba'' is a subgenus of the genus ''Plasmodium'', all of which are parasitic eukaryotes. The subgenus was created in 1966 by Garnham. Species in this subgenus infect reptiles. Description The original criterion for inclusion in this ...

''. As in all ''Plasmodium'' species ''P. heischi'', has both

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the ...

and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are reptiles.

Taxonomy

The parasite was first described by Garnham and Telford in 1984.

Distribution

This species was described in Kenya.

Hosts

The only host for this species are the

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. S ...

s ''

Mabuya striata The African striped skink (''Trachylepis striata''), commonly called the striped skink, is a species of lizard in the skink family ( Scincidae). The species is widespread in East Africa and Southern Africa. It is not a close relation to the Austr ...

''.

References

heischi {{plasmodium-stub