Schizogonic stages of Haemoproteus from Wenyon's Baghdad sparrows are also found in Passer domesticus biblicus in Israel.

Abstract

Schizont bodies reminiscent of those described by Wenyon from Baghdad sparrows were found in the liver and lungs of an Israeli house sparrow ( Passer domesticus biblicusHartert 1904) infected with Haemoproteus passeris Kruse, 1890. All observed schizonts were composed of packed assemblages of walled compartments, each holding a differentiating schizogonic body. The schizogonic bodies in the various compartments demonstrated sequential stages in the differentiation process from a compact multinucleate cytoplasmic mass to massive formation of multiple merozoites. Young non-differentiated schizont assemblages reached 0.2 x 0.25 mm in size and the fully differentiated ones, containing merozoites, were double or triple that. Among species of Haemopterus, division to compartmented and single-plasmodium schizonts could not be associated with any recognized generic or infrageneric division. Moreover, in some species of Haemoproteus, both types of schizogony co-existed.