Ultrastructure of a microsporidian hyperparasite, Unikaryon legeri (Microsporida), of trematode larvae

Unikaryon legeri (Dollfus, 1912) Canning and Nicholas, 1974, has been reexamined by electron microscopy from material collected in Portugal. It parasitises metacercariae of Meigymnophallus sp. in Cardium edule. A sporophorous vesicle forms around the sporonts, arising as a blister that separates from the electron-dense surface coat of the sporont. Sporogony is disporoblastic, giving rise to 2 spores that are retained in pairs within the sporophorous vesicle. Unikaryon piriformis, which is the type species of the genus and is also hyperparasitic in platyhelminth larvae, has not been examined by electron microscopy, and it is not known whether this species also produces sporophorous vesicles. If it does, then all that will be required is a simple addition of this character to the definition; if not, U. legeri will have to be transferred to a new genus and reclassified with other disporoblastic genera that sporulate in sporophorous vesicles.