The ''Selenidioididae'' are a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
parasitic alveolates in 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 ...
Apicomplexa
The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia; single: apicomplexan) are organisms of a large phylum of mainly parasitic alveolates. Most possess a unique form of organelle structure that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an ap ...
. Species in this order infect marine invertebrates.
Taxonomy
The order Archigregarinorida was redefined by Levine in 1971
[Levine N D (1971) Taxonomy of the Archigregarinorida and Selenidiidae (Protozoa, Apicomplexa) J Euk Micro 18 (4) 704-717 DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1971.tb03401.x] and divided into two families:
Exoschizonidae and Selenidioididae.
There are seven genera and 74 species recognised in this family.
Description
Species in this family undergo asexual schizogony.
Life cycle
The species in the family infect the gastrointestinal tract and are presumably transmitted by the orofaecal route but the details of this mechanism are presently unknown.
References
Apicomplexa families
{{Apicomplexa-stub