The protozoa, Plasmodium relictum, is one of the causative parasites of avian malaria and may be lethal to species which have not evolved ...PlasmodiumrelictumSystem:TerrestrialKingdomPhylumClassOrderFamilyProtistaApicomplexaAconoidasidaHaemosporidaPlasmodiidaeFullaccount(PDF)GeneralDistributionImpactManagementBibliographyContactCommonnameavianmalaria(English),Vogelmalaria(German),paludismedesoiseaux(French)SynonymHaemamoebarelicta,GrassiandFeletti1891Plasmodiuminconsta,Hartman1927Plasmodiumcapistrani,Russell1932SimilarspeciesSummaryTheprotozoa,Plasmodiumrelictum,isoneofthecausativeparasitesofavianmalariaandmaybelethaltospecieswhichhavenotevolvedresistancetothedisease(e.g.penguins).Itmaybedevastatingtohighlysusceptibleavifaunathathasevolvedintheabsenceofthisorganism,suchasnativeHawaiianbirds.Theparasitecannotbetransmitteddirectlyfromonebirdtoanother,butrequiresamosquitotomovefromonebirdtoanother.InHawaii,themosquitothattransmitsPlasmodiumrelictumisthecommonhousemosquito,Culexquinquefasciatus.Passerinebirdsarethemostcommonvictimsofavianmalaria.viewthisspeciesonIUCNRedListSpeciesDescriptionHistopathologicalexaminationmayrevealnumerousintraendothelialschizontsinspleen,lung,liver,heartandkidney(Fixetal.1988).Schizontsmaybe16to28micronby11to16micronlargeandcontainmerozoitesoftwodistinctsizes(macromerozoites,nuclei1.0micron;micromerozoites,nuclei0.5micron)(Fixetal.1988).\r\nTheclinicalsignsofdiseasearecausedbythetissuephase,causingtissuedamage(Cranfieldetal.Undated).Theremaynotbeenoughdestructionwithintheredbloodcellstocauseclinicalanemia.Theclinicalsignsinpenguinsarepaleness,anoxia,dyspnea,inappetence,regurgitation,anddeath.Thegrosspathologyrevealsaveryenlargedspleen,swollenliver,andcongestedandextremelyedematouslungs.Impressionsmearsfromthesetissuesoftenrevealsschizonts.Schizontsarepresentinseveraltissuesthroughoutthebody.Histologically,thelungshaveacutesevereinterstitialpneumoniawithschizontspresent.Postmortembloodsamplesfrommajorvesselsortheheartcanbeextremelyusefulin