The Pleistophora debaisieuxi xenoma

Summary Microsporidia form in the xenomas with their hosts a special type of relation. The host cell and the parasite represent together a physiological and morphological unit. In this relation the sporonts of Pleistophora debaisieuxi cause divisions of fat body cells of blackflies to an extent that each parasite sporont is finally closed in a specific host cell, the xenocyte, with a permanent functioning nucleus and a cytoplasmic coat which remains persistent during the whole sporogony of the microsporidian.