Malaria Parasites "Million Murdering Death" and Its Many Relatives

Although there has been some disagreement in the literature as to what deserves to be called a "malaria parasite", we use the term here as the common name referring to any members of the family Plasmodiidae.  Thus, not only are malaria parasites those that infect humans and cause disease, but here, they also represent the almost 200 species of Plasmodium described to date that infect mammals such as primates and bats, birds, and squamate reptiles worldwide.  

Malaria parasites were defined as being those haemosporids that exhibited both gametocytes and schizonts in the host's erythrocytes and which had hemozoin pigment.  Recent analyses based on molecular data, however, have shown that some species may have lost one or the other of these characteristics.   

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