To date, there is only one named species of Helicosporidia: Helicosporidium parasiticum. It was initially described and named by Keilin in 1921, who detected this protist in larvae of Dasyhelea obscura Winnertz (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) collected in England. He examined the new parasite thoroughly and attempted to infer its life history from his observations. He described a vegetative growth characterized by very active multiplications of helicosporidial cells inside the body cavity of the host, and noticed that these “schizogonic multiplications” were followed by the formation of what he called spores. Keilin noted that the spores are very easily recognized; they consist of the assembly, inside an external membrane, of three ovoid cells (named by Keilin “sporozoites”) and one peripheral, spiral, filamentous cell. These features, especially the highly characteristic filamentous cell, have since remained the principal diagnostic for identification of a Helicosporidiumsp. Keilin was...
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References
Boucias DG, Becnel JJ, White SE, Bott M (2001) In vivo and in vitro development of the protist Helicosporidium sp. J Eukaryotic Microbiol 48:460–470
Kellen WR, Lindegren JE (1974) Life cycle of Helicosporidium parasiticum in the navelworm Paramyelois transitella. J Invertebr Pathol 23:202–208
Tartar A, Boucias DG, Adams BJ, Becnel JJ (2002) Phylogenetic analysis identifies the invertebrate pathogen Helicosporidium sp. as a green alga (Chlorophyta). Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52:273–279
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Tartar, A. (2008). Helicosporidium. In: Capinera, J.L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6359-6_1286
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