On the Gregarine, Lankesteria culicis (Ross), in the Mosquito, Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus Skuse

My observations on Lankesteria culicis, as it appears in Aedes albopictus in Calcutta, show that the trophozoites are intracellular in the anterior and extracellular in the posterior regions of the mid-gut, with epimerite rudimentary in the former and well developed in the latter condition. Full-grown forms measure 150–200 × 31–41μ. Association is lateral. Sporocysts measure about 10 × 6μ and are broadly spindle-shaped with slightly flattened ends, with a-residual body situated more toward one pole than the other.

Septate eugregarines in general, excepting the Stenophoridae Léger and Duboscq, grow extracellularly with the epimerite attached to the host cell. Therefore, judging from the foregoing description, we are no longer justified in retaining Lankesteria culicis among the Haplocyte gregarines (Acephalina) and in the family Diplocystidae Bhatia (1930). The presence of a well-developed epimerite and what I consider to be a rudimentary protomerite, clearly distinguish it from any of the Acephalina. Its place should be among the septate gregarines (Cephalina), and perhaps a new genus may have to be erected to receive it there.