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The Structure and Taxonomic Status of Toddia from the Cottonmouth Snake Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma *
Author(s) -
MARQUARDT WILLIAM C.,
YAEGER ROBERT G.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
the journal of protozoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 0022-3921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1967.tb02068.x
Subject(s) - biology , cytoplasm , zoology , staining , host (biology) , inclusion bodies , nucleus , giemsa stain , parasite hosting , homogeneous , anatomy , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , genetics , physics , escherichia coli , world wide web , gene , computer science , thermodynamics
SYNOPSIS. Of 163 cottonmouth snakes Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma from Louisiana, 4 (2.4%) were infected with Toddia França, 1911, an erythrocytic parasite said to be a protozoon. In the 4 blood films, Toddia had an average size of 1.65–1.98 μ with a total size range of 0.88–3.4 μ. In Giemsa‐stained slides, the organisms were usually a round red‐staining mass which was either homogeneous or sometimes contained granules. A pattern of growth was seen in which the organisms increased in size and in which there was development of an erythrocytic inclusion. The inclusion, which was not a part of the parasite, developed first as a spheroid and then became altered in shape to a crystalloid square, possibly a break‐down product of the host cell hemoglobin. The first noticeable damage to the erythrocytes was to the nuclei, which became nearly round; later, when the crystalloid had formed, the host cell degenerated into a small mass containing a pycnotic nucleus, a remnant of cytoplasm and the Toddia. A review of the literature on Toddia and on Pirhemocyton Chatton & Blanc, 1914 leads to the conclusion that the organisms are closely related and that both are viruses of the DNA type.