"So, naturalists observe, a flea has smaller fleas that on him prey; and these have smaller still to bite ’em; and so proceed ad infinitum."
- Jonathan Swift

January 11, 2010

January 11 - Plasmodium minuoviride


Humans are not the only animals that get malaria. In fact, there are over 100 species of Plasmodium that have been described from lizards worldwide. This is one of the newest species, Plasmodium minuoviride, reported last year by Perkins and Austin (link to paper). Its Latin name means "to draw green blood" - so given to this parasite, because the host in which it lives, the skink Prasinohaema prehensicauda, has green blood due to the presence of biliverdin in it.

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