Light and electron microscope observations on Unikaryon legeri (Microsporida,Nosematidae), a parasite of the metacercaria of Meigymnophallus minutus in Cardium edule

Nosema legeri from the metacercariae of Meigymnophallus minutus in Cardium edule has been shown by light and electron microscopy to be disporous and to lack nuclei in diplokaryon form throughout its development. Although its ultrastructure resembles that of Encephalitozoon cuniculi and mature spores often lay in vacuoles surrounded by host membranes, dividing stages were never present in a common vacuole. Sporoblasts showed a cytoplasmic protuberance suggestive of a locomotory organelle. It is possible that movement of these stages disrupts the host cell cytoplasm and creates the vacuole in which the spores mature. The species has been transferred to the genus Unikaryon Canning, Lai and Lie and named Unikaryon legeri(Dollfus, 1912).