title: The identity of Leishmania tarentolae Wenyon 1921.
abstract: A double clone of Trypanosoma platydactyli Catouillard, 1909, derived from a single trypomastigote from the blood of the Moorish gecko, Tarentola mauritanica, was grown in vitro. Morphogenesis of the parasites led to a stable population of promastigotes which were identical, in general morphology, ultrastructure and the electrophoretic mobility of 8 enzymes, to those cultures previously considered to be Leishmania tarentolae Wenyon, 1921. These cultures included the strain isolated from the type locality in Algeria by Parrot (1949) and later used as a laboratory model for the genus Leishmania. T. platydactyli and L. tarentolae are synonymized and the present status of saurian Leishmania parasites is discussed.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000032:analysis; D007891:Leishmania / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology; D008116:Lizards / Q000469:parasitology*; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D007527:Isoenzymes