The role of gamont entry into erythrocytes in the specificity of Hepatozoon species (Apicomplexa: Adeleida) for their frog hosts.

Hepatozoon species are apicomplexan parasites that infect blood cells and viscera of terrestrial vertebrates. One species, Hepatozoon clamatae, primarily infects green frogs, Rana clamitans , whereas another, Hepatozoon catesbianae, primarily infects bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana , although both species of parasite are capable of infecting either species of frog. The aim of this study was to determine whether the basis for this partial host specificity is manifested at the gamont, or intraerythrocytic, stage of the parasite's life cycle.

Experimental transmission of Hepatozoon clamatae (Apicomplexa: Adeleida) to the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, and to the mosquito Culex pipiens.

Hepatozoon clamatae naturally infects the erythrocytes of green frogs (Rana clamitans), bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana), and northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) in northeastern North America and uses the mosquito Culex territans as a definitive host. In this study, we show that the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, supports merogonic development, but not gamogonic development, of this protozoan parasite, and that the mosquito Culex pipiens serves as an experimental definitive host for sporogonic development. Two wood frogs were each force-fed Cx.