Opening doors: a review of the Protozoa and Insecta taxa published under Wellcome Trust funding at Instituto Evandro Chagas, Belém, Pará State, Brazil

Abstract

Wellcome Trust and Instituto Evandro Chagas (IEC) joined research efforts during more than 40 years, and many publications have been made about the scientific contributions with the content of this partnership. The aim of the present historical article is to list the new species of Protozoa and Insecta that were named during the presence of Welcome Trust funding at IEC and to briefly mention how their discovery influenced future research and to show how they relate to present trends in the different areas. The result was a total of 119 new species named in conjunction with their hosts and authors, and five that were transferred (comb. nov.); Ralph Lainson authored/co-authored 108, Jeffrey Shaw 60 new species, 56 by Lainson and Shaw, and seven by other colleague authors. Most of the species were discovered in Brazil. The description of these new species has provided a clearer understanding of the taxonomic groups to which they belong and how some are transmitted to man with their resultant pathologies and treatments. And many scientific doors were opened showing the variety of protozoal parasites in Amazonian vertebrates.