| Abstract: | The new microsporidium (Microsporida: Pereziidae), Perezia dichroplusae n. sp., infects the epithelial cells of the Malpighian tubules of the Argentine grasshopper Dichroplus elongatus. Characteristics of the pathogen include the following: development in direct contact with the host cell cytoplasm; bi-, tetra-, and sometimes multinucleate diplokaryotic meronts, rounded or elongate in shape; unikaryotic sporonts and sporogonial plasmodia, elongate in shape; sporoblasts and spores uninucleated; spores highly variable in size (1.6–6.7 by 1.0–2.7 μm, x?= 3.5 ± 0.09 by 1.5 ± 0.02, n = 100) with eight or fewer polar tube coils and showing a posterior electron-dense inclusion body. |
