Hexamita
Encyclopedia
Hexamita is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of parasitic diplomonad
Diplomonad
The diplomonads are a group of flagellates, most of which are parasitic. They include most notably Giardia lamblia, which causes giardiasis in humans...

s.
It is related to Giardia
Giardia
Giardia is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasites of the phylum Metamonada in the supergroup "Excavata" that colonise and reproduce in the small intestines of several vertebrates, causing giardiasis, commonly known as Beaver fever...

.
H. columbae and H. meleagridis lives in the intestines of birds.
H. muris and H. pitheci lives in the intestines of mammals.
H. salmonis and H. truttae lives in the intestines of fish.

The genus also includes the species Hexamita inflata.

It is believed that Hexamita parasites are one possible cause for head and lateral line erosion ("hole-in-the-head disease") in aquarium fishes.

External links

  • http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Hexamita
  • http://www.jstor.org/pss/3271929
  • http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/Hexamita
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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