Les Plasmodium de Lophura (Phasianidae) : redescription de P. lophurae Coggeshall, 1938 et description de deux nouvelles espèces

A new examination of blood smears from Lophura and from chickens and turkeys of two collections kept at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris (the Brumpt and Garnham collections) was performed. Three different species of Plasmodium which had been previously identified as Plasmodium lophurae Coggeshall, 1938 were detected. P. lophurae was redescribed from this old material and two new species were described and named P. coggeshalli n.sp. and P. papernai n.sp. The three species were separated according to the following main differential morphological characteristics : modifications of the host cell (displacement of the host cell nucleus and/or distortion of the host cell), the amoeboid or smooth outline of the parasite, the presence or absence of numerous cytoplasmic vacuoles, the number of merozoites of mature schizonts, the shape of gametocytes (round or elongate), the size, the abundance and the disposition of the pigment. The three species which can be easily differentiated on morphological grounds belong to three different sub-genera: P. lophurae to subgenus Giovannolaia, P . coggeshalli to subgenus Haemamoeba, P. papernai to subgenus Novyella.