Protozoa: India
Faunal Diversity in India: Protozoa
This is an extract from FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN INDIA Edited by J. R. B. Alfred A. K. Das A. K. Sanyal. ENVIS Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. 1998 ( J. R. B. Alfred was Director, Zoological Survey of India) |
Introduction
Protozoa are single-celled eukaryotic organisms which are, with some exceptions, visible only with the aid of a microscope. These organisms mostly range from 5 /.lm to 250 Ilm in linear length. However, the smallest protozoa may be 1 Ilm (e.g., Leishmania donovani, a flagellate causing kalaazar in man) and the largest one may be 50 mm or more (e.g., Foraminiferida, viz., Cycloclypeus carpenteri). Although protozoans are morphologically unicellular they mainfest all characteristics common to a multicellular liVing being. There are, however, colonical protozoa also (e.g, Volvox sp.) whose individuals are either joined by cytoplasmic threads or embedded in• a common matrix. Interestingly, each of the vegetative cells of these colonical ("polycellular") protozoa, just like unicellular protozoa and unlike the cell of any metazoa, does not depend upon other cells of the colony for carrying on cellular activities needed for its survival. Thus all protozoa whether unicellular or "polycellular" are unified by the fundamental concept of single-celled organisation. They constitute an assemblage of innumerably diversified and phylogenetically distantly related taxa with very simple to complex life cycles.
Status Of The Taxon
Global Status
Protozoa were considered as a phylum in the classical taxonomic scheme developed about the tum of the present century. The phylum Protozoa was then divided into two subphyla, viz., Plasmodroma and Ciliophora and the former was further divided into three classes, viz., Mastigophora, Sarcodina and Sporozoa.
This classification which was primarily based on locomotary organelles appears to be obsolete at present particularly with the advent of electron microscopes and with flow of new data of taxonomic significance. As a result, newly revised classification of Protozoa has been developed in 1980 by the Society of Protozoologists. According to this classification taxonomic status of Protozoa has been elevated to Subkingdom under the Kingdom Protista. The Subkingdom Protozoa has been divided into seven phyl'1, viz., Sarcomastigophora, Labyrinthomorpha, Apicomplexa, Microspora, Ascetospora, Myxozoa and Ciliophora. In the classical classification Protozoa were considered as the most primitive animals but in the current classification they have been treated more primitive than animals and placed under the Kingdom Protista.
There are about 65000 species of Protozoa known so far from the world. Out of these, a little over half are fossils and 10,000 species are parasitic. An estimate of liVing protozoan species of the world is presented in Table 1 and compared with those reported from India.
W =World; I = India; " Few species •• Parasitic includes symbiotic and commensal protozoa also. Amongst the living species of world protozoa known so far Sarcomastigophora represent about 60 per cent, Ciliophora 23 per cent, Apicomplexa 13.75 per cent and Myxozoa 1.5 per cent of the total number of species.
Indian Status
In India 2577 species of Protozoa have been reported so far constituting about 8 per cent of the total world protozoal} fauna. Moreover, Indian Protozoa are represented by 52 per cent freeliving and 48 per cent parasitic species, while world Protozoan species constitute 68 per cent freeliving and it is worth mentioning here that in India freeliving protozoa have been collected from freshwater, brackish and marine water, soil, sand and moss. Indian parasitic protozoa (which include symbionts and commensals also) have been found to occupy diversified host environs. These environs may be broadly demarcated under 5 categories, viz., (i) epizoic (usually sedentary ectocommensals found on the body surface of the aquatic animals), (ii) luminicolous (inhabiting lumen of the gut of both vertebrate and invertebrate hosts), (iii) coelozoic (inhabiting coelom of invertebrates, especiaily annelids), (iv) histozoic (found in blood, lymph and tissues of different organs of both vertebrate and invertebrate hosts) and (v) coprozoic (found in faecal matter of various animals and inhabiting waters rich in decomposing organic matter).
Endemicity
Endemicity of freeliving protozoa in India is nearly 7 per cent while that of parasitic protozoa is around 40 percent. Around 90 species of freeliving protozoa and 550 species of parasitic protozoa are endemic in India. From the data available, none of the Protozoan species has been demarcated as threatened or endangered.
Value
Planktonic protozoa (mainly flagellates and ciliates) playa significant role in the food web as primary consumer in aquatic ecosystems. Bottom living marine protozoa of the neretic region (foraminifera and radiolaria) also have a significant contribution in the formation of littoral depsoits. Soil inhabiting protozoa (mainly rhizopods and ciliates) help in humification and mineralisation of leaf litter on the forest floor in association with other microorganisms. They also contribute much in soil ecosystems mainly as primary consumers of microarthopods and soil nematodes which have significant role to determine soil fertility. Some protozoa (flagellates and ciliates) help in natural recovery of putrefied sewage water.
Protozoa may be conveniently used for environmental biomonitoring particularly in evaluating water quality. Several experimental studies reveal that ciliates actively contribute to the regulation of entire complex of purification plants by regulating bacterial population and controlling BOD level, by controlling pathogenic and faecal bacteria and by releasing mucous substance to facilitate flake formation and successive sedimentation. Some ciliates can be used as indicator species. For example, occurrence of the ciliate, Metoplls es in any water body indicates the presence of hydrogen sulphide in the habitat. Presence of this ciliate species along with other ciliates belonging to the genera Caenomorpha, Epalexella, Pelodinillltl. Plagiopyla and Saprodinium in the putrefying sludge indicates that self-purification in the water body has been stopped due to lack of oxygen and presence of high concentration of hydrogen sulphate.
There are, however, several parasitic protozoa which are well-known pathogens causing various fatal diseases in man and his live-stocks. For example, Plasmodium ja1ciparum and P. vivax cause severe human malaria; two species of Leishmania (L. donovani and L. tropica) cause kalaazar and tropical sore; Entamoeba Ilistolytica and Giardia lamblia cause amoebic dysentery and giardiasis respectively. Similarly several species of coccidia are responsible for coccidiasis in poultry birds, myxozoa for fish disease and microspora.for pebrine disease in silkworm.
Threats And Conservation Strategy
No human-biodiversity relation is established as far as Indian protozoa are concerned. None of the species of protozoa in India can be demarcated as keystone species in marine, freshwater or terrestrial ecosystem. Protozoans are not thoroughly surveyed in India. Therefore, it would not be proper to indicate any protozoan species as rare since it is well known that protozoans are microscopic and are capable of rapid multiplication by both sexual and asexual reproduction. Threats to these organisms, more particularly freeliving protozoa appear to be remote unless there is indiscriminate destruction and distortion of habitats. However, parasitic protozoan species will be threatened if their hosts are threatened and endangered. Protozoa will be conserved if their habitats and hosts are conserved. So, no separate conservation strategy is required for them.
Future Studies
Protozoa are cosmopolitan in distribution. It has been discussed earlier that : (i) freeliving protozoa are available in all habitats of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, (ii) symbiotic protozoa are obligatory in the gut of wood eating termites as well as in the rumen of ruminant mammals and (iii) at least one species of parasitic protozoa in average in expected to be recovered from every animal species of India. Even then this group is least explored in this country except in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Orissa and some north-eastern states.
In view of above, at least some rapid surveys covering all underexplored and unexplored states of India need to be conducted for the collection of all the major groups of protozoa from different environs. Subsequently taxonomic study and state and ecosystem wise inventorisation of these organisms are to be made to get a first hand estimate of the protozoan diversity of the country. Further, expertise on protozoa is to be developed in the country for indentification of the group.
Selected References
Bhatia, B. L. 1936. The Fauna of British India. Protozoa: Ciliophora, Taylor and Francis, London, xii + 439 pp. Bhatia, B. L. 1938. The Fauna of British India. Protozoa: Sporozoa, Taylor and Francis, LondoR, xii + 497 pp. Corliss, J. O. 1979. The Ciliated Protozoa, 2nd Ed. Pergmon Press. XIV + 455 pp. Cushman, A. J. 1959. Foraminifera. Harvard Univ. Press, IX + 605 pp. Das, A. K. 1983. A critique to the study of termite flagellates from India in relation to their hosts. Proc. Symp. Host environ. zool. Surv. India, pp. 39-53. Das, A. K., Mondal, A. K. and Sarkar, N. C. 1993. Free liVing Protozoa. Fauna of West Bengal, pt. 12, State Fallna Series 3, zool. Surv. India. pp. 1-134.
Das, A. K., Mondal, A. K., Nandi, N. c., Nandi, R. and Sarkar, N. C. 1993. Parasitic Protozoa. Fallna of West Bengal, pI. 12, State Fallna Series 3, zool. SIIrv. India. pp. 135-468.
Das, A. K., Mondal, A. K. and Nandi, N. C. 1993. Symbiotic protozoa. Fallna of West Bengal, pt. 12, State Fauna Series 3, zool. SlIrv. India, pp. 469-551. Levine, N. D. 1988. Tire Protozoan phyillm Apicomplexa, vol. I-II. C. R. S. Florida 203 pp. & 154 pp. Mandai, A. K. 1984. A study of haemoprotozoa of fishes of commercial importance of India. Tech. Mono. No.. 9, zool. Surv. India, 51 pp. Mandai, A. K. 1987. Fallna of India: Sporozoa: Eucoccidiida : Eimeriidae. zool. SlIrv. India, vii + 460 pp. Nandi, N. C. 1984. Index-Catalogue of avian haematozoa from India. Rec. zool. Surv. India. Occ. Paper No. 48 : 64 pp.
Protozoa
This is an extract from |
Note: This article is likely to have several spelling mistakes that occurred during scanning. If these errors are reported as messages to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com your help will be gratefully acknowledged.
Introduction
The protozoa are unicellular eukaryotic organisms, mostly microscopic. They are found in every possible niche of all habitats, from deepest ocean bed to the highest mountain tops and from ",opical soils to antarctic snows. Though they are single celled, they are capable of carrying out all bodily functions necessary for survival. They include innumerably eliversified tax with very simple to most complicated life cycle.
Although Gesner fust described a foraminiferan protozoa,Vaqinulina in 1565, even before the invention of microscope, (Cole, 1926) and Linnaeus (1758) included 2 species of free living Protozoa in the 10th•edition of his Systema Nature, still it is Goldfuss (1817) who coined the term 'Protozoa'
In the classical taxonomic scheme which was developed about the tum of the century, Protozoa was considered as phylum which was divided into 2 subphyla, viz., Plasmodroma and Ciliophora. The subphylum Plasmodroma was further divided into 3 classes -Mastigophora, Sarcodina and Sporozoa. This classificatory scheme was primarily based on locomotary organelles. With the advent of electron microscope and with flow of new data o( taxonomic significance the aforesaid classification appeared obsolete. Consequently, a new revised classification was developed in 1980 by• the Society of Protozoologists. According to this the Protozoa constitutes a subkingdom of the Kingdom Protista. This subkingdom is divided into 7 phyla, viz., Sarcomsatigophora, Labyrinthomorpha, Apicomplexa, Microspora, Ascetospora, Myxozoa and Cilio~hora.
At present there are about 65,000 species of protozoa of which a little over half are fossils and more than 10,000 are parasitic. Sarcomastigophpra is the largest phylum followed by Ciliphora and Apicomplexa. Phyla Microspora and Myxozoa comprise about 550 species and 500 species, respectively while both Labyrinthomorpha and As~etospora are represented by a few species only. Among the living species of Protozoa, Sarcomastigophora account for about 60 percent, Ciliophora 23 percent, Apicomplexa 13.75 per cent, Microspora 1.75 per cent and Myxozoa 1.5 per cent of the total number of species.
The protozoa are the Inost primitive animals according to the classical classification. But they are now treated more prilnitive than animals (hence, they are placed under kingdom Protista). The protozoa are best known as the causative agents of some dreadful diseases of man and his livestock, like malaria, sleeping sickness, dysentery, giardiasis, coccidiosis, etc. But they are also very much beneficial as they form important component of plank:~on and, their skelton (test, lorica, etc.) form cliffs and even chalk deposits. Many foraminiferans act as indicator for characterisation of natural oil. Some ciliates are considered as indicators of water pollution. Recent works reveal that the gregarines (Apicomplexa), the parasites of invertebrates, may tum out to be valuable in biological control of mosquitoes and other invertebrate vectors.
Historical Resume
i) Pre-1900
Freeliving Protozoa
The first report of free-living protozoa from India dates back to 1842 when G.W. Gmnt reported the occurrence of 6 species of freshwater protozoa from Calcutta including 2 species of ciliates viz., Co/eps hirtus and Vorticella patel/ina. Subsequently, Wallich (1864) recorded 4 species of testacid rhizopods from Gangetic S undarbans of Lower Bengal. Carter (1864,1865) dealt with salt water rhizopods after obtaining the material from the vicinity of Bombay. Simmons (1889, 1891) reported on the occurrence of 12 genera of free-living ciEates from Calcutta and 1 species of reticulated amoeba, Biomyxa vagans. Mitchell (1862) contributed a short note on a ciliate from Bangalore.
The pioneering works on Indian Ocean foraminiferan fauna commenced at the end of the 18th Century when Fichtel and Moll (1878) described some new species from the Arabian sea. The Challenger Expedition (1873-1876) initiated the investigation of the world's oceans and was the first to cruise for the systematic collection of bottom samples. Brady's monograph of the Challenger foraminifera (1884) although not restricted to the Indian ocean alone, is one of the most important taxonomic papers on material from• this region. Chapman (1895) also published some papers dealing with the shallow water forminifera from this sub-continent. Besides the oceanographic expeditions undertaken by Investigator, Siboga and John Murray, which passed through Indian seas, enlightened our knowledge on this group.
Parasitic Protozoa
So far as the parasitic protozoa are concerned, Carter (1898), Evans (1888), Hehir (1893), Crombie (1894), Sir Ronald Ross (1895-1899) and Daniells (1899) worked on the malarial parasites from India. It was Ross who, while working a Secunderabad and CalClltta elucidated the complete life cycle of malarial parasites of birds'and their transmission by Culex mosquitoes. Further, he (1895) was the first to describe a gregarine parasite from a mosquito. Besides these, Anderson (1889) described a commensal ciliate Anoplophrya aelosomata from an earthwonn.
Symbiotic Protozoa
The only published work on symbiotic protozoa during the.Nineteenth Century was by Simons (1890) who gave a brief account of two flagellates from the gut of termites of Calcutta, without mentioning generic and specific names of those flagellates.
ii) 1901-1947
Freeliving Protozoa
As early as 1907 Penard reported 15 species of testacid rhizopods from the Sikkim Himalayas. Annandale (1907) recorded 2 species of ciliates from the freshwater and brackishwater ponds of West Bengal. Ghosh (1918-1929) published a series of papers recording• 29 species of free living ciliates and 1 species of testacid rhizopod from pond and sewer water of West Bengal. Bhatia and Mallick (1930) studied some freshwater ciliates of Kashmir. Sandan (1927) and Mohan Rao (1928) reported large number of soil Protozoa from various parts of India.
Bhatia (1936, 1938) made two monumental publications, one on Ciliophora and the other on Sporozoa in the 'Fauna of British India' series. Seshachar and his collaborators (1940-70) contributed much on free living ciliates, while Singh (1941-1975) studied soil rhizopod in great detail.
Parasitic Protozoa
At the beginning of the 20th century, Chattterjee (1919-1935) conb"ibuted much on the parasitic flagellates, amoebae, etc. which cause dysentery in man. Mackie (1915), Swaminath (1923) and, Short and Swaminath (1927) reported on Lankestria species (qregarinida) from sandflies in Assam and Bengal. Cornwall (1915) described some gregarinid parasite from silver fish. Bhatia and Setna (1924, 1926), Bhatia and Chatterjee (1925), Setna (1927, 1931), Gates (1926-1933), Ray (1933), Chakravarty (1933-1936) and Setna and Bhatia (1934) worked on gregarinid parasites of India
During this period several species of coccidian parasites were reported. Ganapati (1941, 1952) reported two species of Myriospora from Waltair coast The adeline coccidia, more precisely, the haemogregarinid parasites from Indian reptiles were investigated by Simond (1901), Laveran and Mesoil (1902), Laveran and Nathan -Larrier (1912), and De Mello and his co-workers (1915-1937). The sarcocystid parasites were studied by Chatterjee (1907) from the heart -muscle of a cow in Calcutta. Vasudevan (1927) reported sarcosporidian infection in man. De Mello (1935-1937) described 2 species of Toxoplasma from birds of Goa. The eimerid coccidian parasites from hosts belonging to all classes of vertebrates were reported by a large number •of workers from different parts of the country.
Cooper and Gulati (1926), Cooper (1926, 1927), Sen (1932) and Ware (1936) recorded cases of bovine coccidiosis from Mukteswar, Uttar Pradesh and Coorg District (South India). Knowles and Dasgupta (1934) recorded coccidial infection in man. Ray and his coworkers (1935-1937) described a number of species of coccidia from some mammals and reptiles from Calcutta, West Bengal. Setna and Bana (1935a,b) described two species of Eimeria from a fish and a lizard from Bombay. Halawani (1930 a,b) and Chakravarty and Kar (1944) also described 2 species of Emeria from Indian fishes. Ray and Raghvachari (1942), Ray, Raghavachari and Sapre (1942) and Chakravarty and Kar (1943, 1944, 1947) described a few species from Indian reptiles. Avian coccidia were reported by Mitra and Dasgupta (1937), Naik (1937), Chakravarty and Kar (1944), Ray (1945) and Chakravarty and Basu (1947), while Aiyar (1937) reported coccidiosis in the ~omestic dog and Kar (1943) in domestic goats.
The haemosporidian parasites were studied by a large number of workers during the pre-independence period of twentieth century. Daniells (1900), Cornwall (1901), Stephens and Christophers (1903), Christophers (1904), Donovan (1909), Gragg and Naidu (1918), Knowles and his co-workers (1923, 1931), Clark (1927) and R-ow (1928, 1930) made important contributions to our knowledge on the morphology of malarial parasites. Sinton (1929) published a complete bibliography of the literature dealing •with malaria in India. Transmission and seasonal incidence of malaria in India were reported by Stephens and Christophers (1902), James (1903), Beutley (1911), James and Liston (1912), Adie (1913), Gill (1925), James, Nicol, and Shute (1927), Carter and Jacocks (1929), Carter (1930), Knowles and his associates (1919, 1935), King (1931) and Iyengar (1931-1934). •
The malarial parasites of monkeys were studied by Knowles (1919), Donovan (1920), Knowles and Dasgupta (1932, 1934), Sinton and his associates (1937-35). Mackie (1914) described a malarial parasite in a bat and Sheather (1919) in the buffalo. De Mello and his co-workers (1923• 1937) described several species of plasmodiid and haemoproteid parasites of Indian birds and mammals. The haemoproteid parasites from Indian birds were also reported by Acton and Knowles (1919), Alcock (1914), Adie (1915), Malkani (1936), and Chakravarty and Kar (1945a,b).
The piroplasmid parasites, viz., Theileria and Babesia were recorded by Lingard (1903, 1907), Lingard and Jennings (1904), James (1905), Webb (1906), Christophers (1907), Gaiger (1910), Patton (1910), Nuttal (1908), Iyer (1933), Achar and Srikanth (1934), Mangrulkar (1937), Sinton (1921), Rau (1926), Symons (1926), Cooper (1926), Sarwar (1935), Shortt (1936) and Bhatia (1936) from wild and domestic mamm~s of India. Baldrey (1911) gave a useful summary on piroplasmosis in India.
The microsporan parasites belong~g to the genus Nosema We{e reported by korke (1916) in the dog-flea, Adie (1922), Christophers and Short and Swaminath (1922) in Cimex rotundatus. Iyenger (1929) and Kudo (1929) studied the microsporidian parasites of anopheline larvae.
The myxozoan parasites of fishes were dealt with by several workers in India. Southwell (1915), Southwell and Prashad (1918) and Ray (1933) mysosporidian parasites from freshwater fishes. Chakravarty (1938, 1939, 1943) studied the myxo.sporidian parasites from the common food fishes of Bengal, while Setna (1942) and Ganapati (1941) reported on the myxosporidian parasites of marine fishes from Bombay and Madras respectively. Ray (1933) described a new species of Myxozoa, namely. Zschokella prashadi from the gall-bladder of two species of Amphibia (Bufo melanoslicus and Rana tigrina) from Calcutta and also from the gall-bladder of a chelon~ species, Lissemys punctala granosa.
Ghosh (1919-22), Bhatia and Gulati (1922), De Mello and his co-workers (1919-1934), Ray (1932) Niel (1935) studied opalinid and ciliate parasites of earthworms, cockroaches, tennites and, toads and frogs from different parts of India. Chatterjee reported balantidial dysentery in man. Knowles and DasGupta (1934) reported Balantidium and Entamoeba hystolytica in rhesus monkey in West Bengal.
Symbiotic Protozoa
During the fust half of the twentieth century Imms (1919), Cutler (1919-1921), De Mello and his co-workers (1919-1949) published several papers on tennite flagellates reporting 49 species and 4 varieties. Kirby (1932) examined some alcohol preserved termite specimens of Anacanthoter1JU!s macrocephalus from India and recorded from it Trichonympha lurlcestanica.
Ghosh (1922) was the pioneer worker on rumen ciliates from India who reported 42 species of ciliates from the rumen of cow and goat from the slaughter house of Tangra, Calcutta. Unfortunately, this.work has never been referred by any subsequent workers on the subject in India or outside. Other workers on rumen ciliates from India are Jameson (1925), Kofoid and MacLennan (1930, 1932, 1933), Kofoid and Christensen (1934) and Dasgupta, (1935).
iii) 1948-1990
Freeliving Protozoa
During the post independence period Seshachar and his collaborators (1940-70) and Das, (1953¬66) have contributed mU9h on freeliving ciliates, Singh and his co-workers (1952-70) on soil protozoa, Mahadevan and Rao (1954), Ganapati and Satyavathy (1958) and Sethulakshmi and Amma (1958) on littoral formanifera of Indian mainland and islands scattered in Indian seas. Besides, Naidu (1963-66) have worked extensively on freeliving flagellates and rhizopods of South India, Nair and his collaborators (1960-74) and Das (1971 onwards) on freeliving protozoa of West Bengal, Mahljan (1969-1971, 1977) on freeliving protozoa of Rajasthan and, Das and Nair (1987) on freeliving protozoa of Orissa. Recently Choudhury and his co-workers (1987-89) Ilave contributed on soil inhabiting rhizopods of West Bengal.
Maximum work on foraminifera has been done ,along the east coast of India. These are, by Ghosh, 1966, (one species of Spinosa rotalid from Digha beach), Bhatia and Bhalla, 1959 (14 benthic species from Puri beach), Satyavathy, 1954 (Waltair coast), Sarojini, 1958 (Waltair coast), Ganapati and Satyavathy, 1958 (103 species from continental shelf ofWaltair coast), Ganapati and Sarojini, 1959 (distribution pattern of 103 species from the above material of 1958), Subba Rao and Vcdantam, 1968 (distribution of 32 species on the continental shelf off Visakhapatanam at depth varying 11-104 fms.). Bhalla, 1968 (reported 16 species from beach sand of Visakhapatanam), Sastri and Pant, 1969 (Operculina rich sand from Madras coast), Bhalla, 1970 (IS species from Madras Marine beach), Ramanathan 1969 &1970 (seasonal variation in fonniniferal abundance in Veller Estuary, Madras), Gnanamuthu, 1943 (47 littoral benthic species from Krusadai Island, Gulf of Mannar), Daniel, 1949 (described some species from krusadai Island and adjacent area), Ameer Hamasa (1971) described four species as new records from the Palk Bay; Baliaeva, 1967 (distribution of the shells of planktonic foraminifera on the floor of the Bay of Bengal).
Comparatively less work has been done on the West Coast of India and Arabian Sea. Mention may be made of the work of Kurian, 1951 (Operculina granulosa from coastal waters of Travancore), Antony, 1968 (description and distribution of 164 species of the Kerala coast), Siebold (1971) reported that 12 species of benthic foraminifera were transported into the lagoon of Cochin by tidal currents from shallow open ocean off Cochin Harbour. Chatterjee and Gururaja, 1968 (some species/not identified from 8-10 fathoms depth off Mangalore coast); Chaudhuri &Biswas, 1954 (record of 12 species form Juhu Beach, Bombay); Rao, 1968-71, in series of papers described 84 species from shallow water of Gulf of Cam bay while Sastri &Pant, 1969 (Operculina rich sand from Maharashtra coast) and Bhatia, 1956 recorded 45 species from Western India. Recently study has been made by Frerichs, 1970 on the distribution and ecology of benthic and planktonic forms in the sediments of the Andaman Sea.
Parasitic Protozoa
During this period a significant contribution on this group has been made by large number of researchers working in the Zoological Survey of India as well as different universities and institutes of various parts of India.
Flagellate parasites, more particularly Trypanosomes have been studied comparatively in detail. Qadri (1962), Joshi (1973 onwards), Misra et al. (1973) and Roychowdhury and Misra (1973), Pandey and Pandey (1974), MandaI (1975), Narasimhamurti and Saratchandra (1980), Gupta and Jairajpuri (1981) and Das et ale (1986) dealt with fish trypanosmes. Mandai (1984) published a monograph on this group.
Ray and Choudhury (1983) also published a technical monograph on amphibian trypanosomes. Reptilian trypanosomes were studied by Sinha and Mandai (1976), Sinha (1978) and Ray (1987). Avian trypanosomes have been worked out by Singh and his co-workers (1951-1966), Subramanian and Singh (1962), Chatterjee and Ray (1971), Choudhury and Misra (1976), Nandi, et ale (1984) and MandaI (1988). Trypanosomes of mammalian hosts (both wild and captive) have been dealt with by Todd (1963), MandaI and his associates (1976), Das Gupta and his co-workers (1972 onwards), Sen Gupta (1974) and Choudhury and Misra (1973).
Non-trypanosome flagellate parasites (viz. Retortomonas, Monocercomonas, Chilomastox, etc.) of vertebrate hosts were studied by Tripathi (1954) Todd (1963), Krishnamurthy (1963, 1967, 1968), Janakidevi (1961, 1962) and Madre (1979) ; Narasimhamurti and Saratchandra (1979-82), Satatchandra (1981) those of invertebrate hosts (insects) by Sultana (1976) and Krishnamurthy and Sultana (1976).
Uttangi (1948, 1951, 1958, 1961) Tripathi (1954), Das and Mukherjee (1974), MandaI and Nair (1975), Shete (1982, 1984) and, Shete and Krishnamurlhy (1984) contributed to our knowledge on opalinids and parasitic ciliates of vertebrate hosts, while Chakravarty and Chatterjee (1957), Karandikar and Rodji (1958), Bhaskar Rao (1969), Uttangi and Desai (1963), MandaI and Nair (1974), Biswas an<l Mukherjee (1974) and Mukherjee and Chakraborty (1975) reported different ciliate parasites from invertebrate hosts (earthworms, insects and millipedes).
Extensive researches on septate gregarines were made by Halder and his associates (1974 onwards). Uttangi and Desai (1961, 1962), Desai and Uttangi (1962), Rao (1962), Narasimhamurthy and. Kalavati (1968 onwards), Devhar and Despande, (1971, 1977), Amoji and his associates (1973-1985), and Ramachandra (1974) have also done considerable work on the group. Mention is to be made here that Chakravarty (1959) proposed a new classification of the septate gregarines which has been internationally accepted.
Aseptate gregarincs in India were studied by Misra and Roy Choudhury (1973), Pradhan and Das Gupta (1980, 1982), Sarkar (1983) and Roy Choudhury and Halder (1984).
Narasimhamurti and Kalavati (1960-1977) contributed much on a deline Coccidia from termites and centipedes. So far as haemogregarines are concerned Mandal et ale (1983) reported this group from fIsh hosts.. Ray and Choudhury (1984) published a monograph on this group from ~phibian hosts; Misra et al (1974), Misra (1976), Sinha (1978), Saratchandra (1981) and Ray and Bhattacharjee (1984) from reptilian hosts.
Only one species of aggregatine coccidia, viz., Aggregata kudoi has been reported so far from India by Narasimhamurthi (1979) from a molluscan host, Sepia elliptica. Many workers, however, contributed to the knowledge of Indian coccidia of the family Eimeriidae. Among them Chakravorty and Kar (1952), Gill (1955), Gill and Ray (1957), Ray and his associates (1952¬1973), Bhatia and his co-workers (1963-71), MandaI and Chakravarty (1963-1965), Patnaik et ale (1963-66), Mandai and Nair (1973, 1974) MandaI (1976 onwards) and Bandyopadhayaya (1982-87) deserve mention. Recently Mandai (1987) made a signifIcant contribution on Eimeriidae in the 'Fauna of India' series. In addition, Ray (1980) described Lankesterella from frogs, Sarkar and Haldar (1979) and Kundu and Halder (1984) reported Dactylosama from fishes and Ray and Sarkar (1969) recorded one species of Gordonella (which is now synonymised with Schellackia) from a lizard host, Calotes versicolor.
Haemosporidian parasites which include malaria and related parasites are dealt with by several workers from different vertebrate hosts. Misra, Halder and Chakravarty (1972) and Mandai et ale (1985) reported the occurrence of this group from Indian fIshes and Ray and ahoudhury (1981) from a frog, Rana limnocharis. Singh and his associates (1951-56), Ray and Bhatnagar (1953), Subramanian and Singh (1962), Grewal (1962-1964), Sarkar and Ray (1972), Nandi and Mandai (1977 onwards) and Pal and Das GuPta (1980) dealt with avian haemosporidia from different parts of India. Nandi and Mandal (1976) reported malarial parasites from bat and Sinha and Das Gupta (1989) from crab-eating monkey of Great Nicobar Island. Das Gupta and his co-workers (1965 onwards) have been m.ainly engaged in taxonomic study of malarial parasites of mammals.
Piroplasmid parasites of cattles and horse have been studied by Goutam and Banerjee (1911 onwards), Srivastava and co-workers (1977 onwards). Myxozoan parasites of freshwater fishes were reported by Chakravarty and his co-workers (1937-48), Tripathis (1952), Qadri 91962-70). Lalithakumari (1965-69), Bhatt and Siddiqui, (1964), Roy Choudhury and Chakravarty (1970), Karamchandani (1970), Mandai and Nair (1975), Halder and his co-workers (1978 onwards). Seenappa and Monohar (1980), Hagargi and Amoji (1981), Jayasri, (1982), Kundu (1985), Yatindra and Mathur (1988) and, Gupta and Khera (1987 onwards). Myxozoan parasiteS of estuarine and marine teleost fishes have been reported by Tripathi (1952), Narasimhamurthy, Kalavati and their co-workers, (1970 onwards), Choudhury and Nandi (1973), and Sarkar and his co-workers (1982-1989). In India a single species of myxozoan parasite viz., Myxidium halddari has been reported so far from the amphibian host, llyla arborea by Sarkar (1982). Microsporan parasites were studied by Narasimhamurti and Kalavati (1972, 1979, 1985) and Ghosh (1989) and haplosporan parasites by Ganapati et al. (1964) and, Narasimhamurthi and Kalavati (1975).
Symbiolic Prolozoa
During this period Karandikar and Vittal (1954), Banerjee (1956), Uttangi (1959, 1962) and Mukherjee and Maiti (1989, 1990) dealt with termite flagellates from Maharashtra, West Bengal. Kamnataka and Arunachal Pradesh respectively, Das (1972 onwards) and Tiwari (1977 onwards) are engaged in studying taxonomy of the aforesaid group from West Bengal, Bihar and Ultar Pradesh. On the other hand Banerjee (1955), Choudhury and Chatterjee (1962) and Mandai, Ray and Nair (1984) have worked on rumen ciliates.
Studies from Different Environs
Protozoa live under almost all natural conditions where moisture is found. They have been reported from freshwater, brackish water, marine water and even brine pools, from hot springs, snow drifts, mud, soil, leaf litter, moss and latex of various plants, (e.g., figs and allied fonns, lettuce and Euphorbia plants). They are known to parasitise other unicellular organisms, even protozoa as well as almost all organs of multicellular animals. They are also found as parasites of several genera of aquatic plants. However, from India freeliving protozoa have so far been collected from freshwater, braclQsh and marine water, soil and moss. On the other hand, parasitic protozoa (which include symbiotes and commensals) occupy diversified host environs. These environs may, however, be broadly demarcated under 5 categories, viz., epizoic, luminicolous, coelozoic, histozoic and coprozoic.
Freeliving Protozoa
i) Freshwater environs
From the perusal of literature it appears that first report of protozoa from India is made from freshwater environs by Grant (1842). Since then, considerable work on protozoa from this environs has been done by Ghosh (1818-1929), Nair and his co-workers (1960-1974) and Das (1971 onwards) from West Bengal, Bhatia and Mallick (1930) from Kashmir and Mahajan (1969, 1971, 1977) from Rajasthan. Earlier works on freshwater inhabiting ciliates are available in the Ciliophora volume in the Fauna of British Jndia series, written by Bhatia (1936). A monographic account of freshwater protozoa of West Bengal is given by Das et ale (in press). In addition, Gopalkrishanan (1971) reported the occurrence of several genera of protozoa from the freshwatez zone of Hugli Rupnarayan estuary in West Bengal.
ii) Brackish water and marine environs
Majority of the marine protozoa reported from India belong to the order Foraminiferida. Maximum work on this group has been done along the east coast of India. Mention may be made here that Ghosh (1966) reported foraminifera from Digha coast, Bhatia and Bhalla (1959) from Purl coast, Ganapati and his co-workers (1958-59), Bhalla (1968) and Bhatt (1969) from Waltair coas~ and, Sastri and Pant (1969) and Bhalla (1970) from Madras coasL Several investigators also studied this group along the West coast of India. Among them Antony (1968), Chatterjee and Gururaja (1968), Rao (1968-71), Freichs (1970) and SiebOld (1981) deserve mention. Further Chapman (1985) reported 277 species of foraminifera from bottom samples near Laccadive islands.
Marine and brackishwater protozoa other than foraminifera are l~tstudied. Carter (1864, 1865) reported salt water rhizopods from the vicinity of Bombay and Annandale (1907) recorded ciliates from some brackish water ponds of West Bengal. Shetty, Saba and Ghosh (1961) arid Saba, Ghosh and Gopalkrishnan (1975) reported several genera and species of flagellates, rhizopods and ciliates from brackish water zones (Zones III and V) of the HugH-Malia estuary. Among these, dinoflagellates belonging to the genera Ceratium, Peridinium and Noctiluca were found to be common throughout the year and the tintinnids (ciliates) were observed from June to November. Recently Das and Nair (1989) reported 41 species of freeliving ciliates from the Chilka lagoon, Orissa, based on their collections made dwing 1969-71.
iii) Soil inhabiting protozoa
Sandon (1927), Mohan Rao (1928) and Choudhury (1929) reported several species of soil protozoa from various part of India, Singh and his co-workers (1952-1981) did extensive work on soil inhabiting amoeba from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, and Choudhury and his associates (1987-89) contributed much on the same group from West Bengal. All the soil protozoa reported so far from West Bengal are covered in the publication of Das et ale (in press).
iv) Moss inhabiting protozoa
This environ is least studied for protozoans. Penard (1907) initiated this work in Sikkim Himalayas and reported 15 species of rhizopods. After a long gap, Nair and Mukherjee (1968) recorded 12 species of testacid rhizopods from ground and tree mosses of West Bengal. Recently Das et ale (in press) have dealt with 13 species of rhizopods and 4 species of ciliates from West Bengal.
Parasitic Protozoa
i) From Epizoic environs
The epizoic or surface dwelling protozoans primarily belong to the phylum Ciliophora., They are usually sedentaric ectocommensals and are found on the body surface of the aquatic animals. Practically no work has been done on this group barring a single exception by Khajuria and Pillai (1951) who described one species, viz., Zoothamnium horai from a grey mullet from West Bengal.
ii) From Luminicolous environs
The protozoa which inhabit the lumen of the gut of both invertebrate and vertebrate hosts embrace endocommensals, symbiotes and parasites. They are so termed based on their relationships with the hosts.
The fust report of luminicolous protozoa from India was made by Anderson (1889) when he described a asternate ciliate, Anoplophrya aelostomata from earthworms. Subsequently, several workers made ey.tensive studied on endocommensal ciliates (viz., Nyetotherus, Balantidium. etc.,) and intestinal flagellates from the gut of both invertebrates and vertebrates. Among invertebrate hosts, termites, roaches and earthworms are paid maximum attention as has already been dealt with earlier. For details of works on termite flagellates Das (1983), for these of roaches Bhatia (1936) and, MandaI and Nair (1974) and those of earthworms Bhatia (1936), Biswas and Mukherjee (1974) and, MtJkherjee and Chakraborty (1975) maybe referred to. In addition, Karandikar and Rodgi (1958) reported the occurrence of some ciliate endocommensals (viz., Nyetotherus) from millipede hosts, Chakraborty and Chatterjee (1957) from mole cricket and Uttangi and Desai (1963) from termites. Further Sultana and her coworker (1976) reported luminicolous flagallates of the genera Retortamonas and Monocereomonas from the lumen of insects.
Mention may be made here that Jamadar and Choudhury (1988) have recently dealt with 14 species of ciliates from the gills, labial palp, mantle cavity, buccal mass and buccal cavity of some estuarine and marine molluscs of India.
Extensive work on rumen ciliates has also been carried out from India, the taxonomic details of which are available in Ghosh (1922), Bhatia (1936), Banerjee (1955), Choudhury and Chatterjee (1962) and MandaI et ale (1984).
Endocommensals including opalinates and ciliates from vertebrate hosts, more specifically toads and frogs have been studied by several workers in India, for taxonomic details of which Bhatia (1938), Uttangi and his coworkers (1948-61), Tripathi (1954), Das and Mukherjee (1974), MandaI and Nair (1975), Shete and his associates (1982-1984) may be consulted.
Luminicolous flagellates of vertebrate hosts have been studied by Todd (1963), Krishnamurthy (1963-1968), lanakidevi (1961, 1962), Madre (1969) and Sarat Chandra and his coworkers (1979-82).
iii) From Coelozoie environs
The coelozoic forms are parasitic in their habit. The gregarines are chiefly coelozoic parasites in invertebrates, especially annelids. Ghosh (1923), Short and Swaminath (1927), Bhatia and his coworkers (1924-34), Chakravarty (1933-59), Kat (1948) Uttangi and his coworkers (1961-62), Amoji and his associates (1973-85), Haldar and his co-workers (1974 onwards), Narasimhamurti and Kalavati (1968 onwards) and Pradhan and Dasgupta (1980-82) made valuable contribution on gregarines of annelids and arthropods. The other important groups occurring in organs like gall bladder, urinary bladders, etc., of mainly lower vertebrates come under the group Myxozoa ~d Ascetospora. The works of Chakravarty (1939-48), Haldar and his associates (1974 onwards), Narasimhamurti and his associates (1979 onwards) and recently by Gupta and Khera (1988 onwards) on Myxosporida are worth-mentioning. Ganapati et ale (1964) reported a ascetosporan parasite from the body cavity of a copepod.
iv) From Histozoic environs
Maximum work has been done in India on histozoic forms mainly dealing" with coccidian, haemosporidian and myxozoan parasites. Extensive work has also been carried out on haemoflagellates occurring in all the groups of vertebrates. Microsporidan and hoplosporidan parasites are relatively little studied in India.
Coccidian parasites have been studied by large number of workers indifferent parts of India as discussed earlier. For consolidated taxonomic account on Eimeriidae Mandai (1987), for those of harmosporidan parasites Bhatia (1938), Chakraborty and Kat (1945), Ray and his associates (1932-1961), Das Gupta and his co-workers (1961 onwards) and, Nandi and MandaI (1976 onwards) may be consulted. The important works on haemoflagellates are those of Joshi (1973 onwards), Roychoudhury and Misra (1973), MandaI (1975 onwards), Narasimhamurti and Saratchandra (1980) and, Ray and Choudhury (1983).
Myxozoan parasites are comparatively well studied. In this connection Chakraborty and his co¬workers (1937-48), Qadri (1962-70), Haldar and his co-workers (1978 onwards), Narashimam.urti, Kalavati and their associates (1970 onwards) and, Gupta and Khera (1987 onwards) deserve mention.
Microsporidan parasites have been reported from adipose tissues of insects by Narasimhamurti and Kalavati (1972-85) and Ghosh (1989).
v) From Coprozoic environs
Certain freeliving protozoa which are frequently found in the faecal matter of various animals are found to inhabit waters rich in decomposing organic matter. The cysts of those protozoa pass through the alimentary canal of the animal unharmed, and undergo development and multiplication in the faecal infusion. These are termed coprozoic protozoa which show a striking adaptability to survive in conditions quite different from those of the water in which they normally live. In India coprozoic protozoa are least studied. Das Gupta (1935) reported one such protozoa (flagellates), viz. Oikomonas communis from the rumen of the Indian goat, Capra hircus.
Estimation of Taxa
Total number of families, genera and species of protozoa reported so far from India is presented in the following table (Table-2) and compared with those known from the world. From the table it is quite evident that barring one phylum Labyrinthomorpha altogether 6 phyla of Protozoa are represented from India. This is also to mention here that more than half of the Indian protozoan species are parasites (including symbiotes and commensals). Animal Resources 'ofIndia
Considering the fact that there are about 385 species of mammals, 1200 species of birds, 420 spec'ies of reptiles, 210 species of amphibians, 1700 species of fishes and 77,500 species of invertebrates (excluding protozoa) and assuming that there is only one species of parasitic protozoa for every host species (although Table-4 shows more than 2 protozoan parasites per host species) we can safely estimate the'number of parasitic species from India. So far as freeliving protozoa are concerned varied habitats of many States of India are not thoroughly searched for. Moreover, many expected protozoan -rich habitats (like moss, lichen, etc.) are also not properly explored. When that is done we can expect to record the occurrence of 3 to 4 times the number of species of freeliving protozoa from India, of what has been known so far.
Classified Treatment
Phylum Sarcomastigophora Subphylum Mastigophora This subphylum whose representatives are popularly termed as flagellates comprises two classes, Viz., Phytomastigophora and Zoomastigophorea. The former includes 10 orders out of which 5 orders, viz., Cryptomonadida, DilJoflageUida, Euglenida. Chrysomonadida and VQlvocida are reported from Indian waters. Taxonomy of Phytomastigophoran flagellates is least studied. Whatever published information is available on this group is intermingled with the algal or planktonic study. However, Naidu (1962) reported 8 species of the order Euglenida (belonging to 4 genera under 3 families) from the freshwater of ponds, tanks and wells of South India. Recently Das et ale (in press) have dealt with 24 species (belonging to 12 genera under 7 families and 4 orders) from West Bengal.
Zoomastigophorea comprise 8 orders out of which 7 orders, viz., Kinetoplastida, Proteromonodida, Retortomonadida, Diplomonadida, Oxymonadida, Trichomonadida and Hypcrmastigida are known from India. Only parasitic or symbiotic zoomastigophoran flagellates have been studied in India while freeliving or coprozoic ones are almost completely neglected.
In India, flagellates belonging to the order Kinetoplastida are represented by the member of. the genera Trypanosoma. Trypanoplasma and Leishmania. Among them Trypanosoma are comparatively well studied. Several species of trypanosomes were studied from all groups of vertebrate hosts as discussed earlier. The genus Trypanoplasma which is represented by a few species in India is worked out by Mandai (1984) and Wahul (1985). The genus Leishmania is the causative agent for visceral and dermal leishmaniasis and represented by two species, L. donovani and L. tropical Many workers of different institutes have considerably contributed to our knowledge of leishmaniasis in India. Among them, K.K. Mallick and his coworkers in School of Tropical medicine, Calcutta, A.C. Ghosh in Cholera Research Institute, Calcutta, D.K. Ghosh in Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Calcutta, Sen and his associates previously in CORI, Lucknow and presently at PMRI, Patna, and A. Bhattacharya and his co-workers in the C8Icutta University deserve mention.
Taxonomic studies of flagellates of the order Proteromonadida were undertaken by Das Gupta (1935), Todd (1963) and Krishnamurthy and his associates (1967 onwards) while those of the order Retortomonadida were made by Das Gupta (1935) and Krishnamurty and his co-workers (1967 onwards) from the rumen of Indian goat in West Bengal and from the gut of insects of Maharashtra respectively. Mention may be made here that two retortamondad species, viz., Retortamonas intestinalis and Chilomastix mesnili are found in human intestine and reported by several medical institutes of India.
Giardia inteslinalis is the only representative of the order Ciplomonadida. This flagellate is clinically important as it causes giardiasis in man.
Several genera of the oxymonadid flagellates viz., Oxymonas. Dinenympha, Pyrsonympha and Microrhopaiodina are reported from the gut of tennites (Das, 1983 and Mukherjee and Maid, 1989, 1990). Further, the genus Monocercomonoides is well represented in India and reported. from the gut of insects, amphibia, reptiles and mammals (Krishnamurthy and his coworkers, 1967 onwards).
Trichomonadid flagellates are comparatively well studied in India. Flagellates belonging to the families Descovinidae and Calonympbidae have been reported from termite guts (see Das, 1983). Representatives of the families Monocercomonadidae and Trichomonadidae have been found ~m both invertebrate and vertebrate hosts. Mention is to be made here that Trichomonas vaginilis causes vaginities in women and T gallinae causes trichomonosis in several avian host species. Both these parasites have been reported from India.
Except the genus Lophomonas, which occurs in the gut of cockroach, all other representatives of the order Hypermastigida inhabit termite gut So far 52 species of hypermastigid flagellates have been reported from India (see Das, 1983) and one species viz., Lophomonas striata is found to occur in the gut of Indian cockroach.
Subphylum Opalinata
As mentioned earlier, only 30 species belonging to 4 genera under 1 family have been reported so far from India
Subphylum Sarcodina
This subphylum comprises 2-superclasses, viz., Rhizopoda and Actinopoda with 8 and 4 classes respectively. Out of these, representatives of only 3 classes, Lobosea, Filosea and Granuloreticulosea of the Superclass Rhizopoda and all the 4 classes of the other superclass are reported so far from India.
In the class Lobosea gymnamoeba and testacid rhizopods are comparatively well studied. On the other hand, in the class Filosea a single family Eughyphidae with 5 genera and several species are reported from India Both Lobosea and Filosea have been collected from soil (Singh and his coworkers, 1952-81), freshwater (Nair et ale 1971, Mahajan 1969, 1971), estuarine and marine waters (Gopalkrishnan, 1971 and Ghosh and his coworkers, 1986-1987) and moss (Nair 1968 and Das et ale in press) as freeliving. Some of these rhizopods are also parasites, of which few are the causative agents of human diseases. For example, Entamoeba histolytica is well known. for causing human dysentery. Naegieria/owleri, Acanthamoeba astrony~s and A. castellanii which are primarily soil inhabiting forms can cause primary amoebic meningocephalitis and chronic granulomatus amoebic encephali in human being when they get chance to enter though the nasal cavity. Besides, some species of Endamoeba also parasitise man and his livestocks. So far as the class Granuloreticulosea is concerned foraminiferans, both living and fossil, are worked out in some detail as discussed earlier. Among other represel}tatives of this class Qnly two genera, viz., Biomyxa and Lieberkuhnia with single species of each are known so far from India.
Among the 4 classes of the superclass Actinopoda lrepresentatives of the 3 classes. viz., Acantharea, Polycystina and Phaeodarea are marine and included under the order• Radiolarida according to the earlier classification. A vast area of the ocean floor is known to be covered with the ooze made up chiefly of radiolaridan skeleton. The other class Heliozoea include mostly freshwater species and few marine. From Intiia few genera, e.g., Clathrulina. Actinophrys. Actinosphaerium and Acanthocyslis with several species are reported.
Phylum Labyrinthulesa
It includes a single class Labyrinthulea and a single order Labyrinthulida with two genera, viz., Abyrenthula and Thraustochytrium. This phylum is not yet represented from India.
Phylum Apicomplexa
It has only 2 classes, Perkinesea and SporozoPAl of which the former is not yet reported from india. The class Sporozoea are well studied in India. It comprises subclasses, Gregarinia, Coccidie and Piroplasmia. The subclass•Gregarinia has 3 orders, viz., Archigregarinida, Eugregarinida and Neogregarinida. The former is not represented in India while eugregarines are well studied and well represented with nearly 250 species. For taxonomy of this group workers like Bhatia and Setna (1924-34), Chakraborty (1933-59), Uttangi and Desai (1960), Amoji and Rodgi (1970s), Narasihmamurti and Kalavati (1968 onwards), Haldar and his coworkers (1974 onwards) and Pradhan and Das Gupta (1980s) deserve mention. So far as neogregarines are concerned only one species belonging to the genus M attesia, infecting the fat body and malpighian tube1es of squirrel flea (Siphonaptera) is known so far from India (Dasgupta, 1958).
The subclass Coccidia also includes three orders, viz., Agamococcidiida, Protococcidiida and Eucoccidiida. The former is not yet reported from India while the second one' is represented by 2 species belonging to the genus Myriospora, both from Indian polychaetes (Ganapati, 1941, 1952). Extensive researches on Eucoccidia have been made from India. Eucoccidia has 3 suborders Adeleina, Eimeriina and Haemosporina. About 20 species of adeline coccidia belonging to 6 genera under 2 family have been described so far from India (see Narasimhamurti 1960 onwards, Kalavati 1977 onwards, MandaI et al., 1983 and, Ray and Choudhw-y, 1984).
The suborder Eimeriina is represented by about 250 species belonging to 14 genera under 6 families in India. For details of taxonomy of the family Eimeriidae MandaI (1987) and that of other families levine (1988) may be consulted. The suborder Haemosporiina includes malarial parasites of man and other vertebrates. About 125 species of haemosporids are reported from India. Both taxonomic and epizootiological studies have been made by several investigators in India. Major contributors to this field are Das Gupta (1967), Das Gupta et ale (1971), Greiner, Mandai and Nandi (1977), Misra and Choudhury (1977), Mahajan (1978), Dutla (1978), Choudhury et ale (1978), Ghosh et ale (1978) and Bennett and Nandi (1981).
The subclass Piroplasmia includes single order Piroplasmida. Six species of this group have been reported from wild and domestic animals of India (see Bhatia, 1938). The representatives of the genera Babesia and Theileria cause babesiosis and theileriosis in Cattles and other artiodactyles. Ray and Sarkar (1969), Haldar, Misra and Chakravarty (1971) and Sarkar and Haldar (1979) have contributed to the taxonomic studies of these genera. Gautam and Banerjee (1977) studied equine babesiosis, Subramanian and Benna (1977) and Gill (1978) worked on bovine theileriosis in India.
Phylum Microspora
This phylum includes 2 classes, viz., Rudimicrosporea and Microsporea with 1 and 2 orders respectively. Out of these only one order Microsporida belonging to the latter class with about 20 species (see Bhatia, 1938, Narasimhamurti and his co-workers, 1965 onwards and Ghosh, 1989). Mention may be made here that Nosema bombycis causing Pebrine disease in silk moth was reported on several occasions in India.
Phylum Ascetospom This phylum also comprises 2 classes, Stellatosporea and Paramyxea with 1 order each. Narashimhamurti and Kalavati (1975) and Ganapati et al (1975) reported 2 species of Haplosporidium from copepods. These protozoa belong to the order Balanospoirida of the class Stellatosporea
Phylum Myxozoa This Phylum includes 2 classes, Myxosporea and Actinosporea out of which the second one is not yet reported from India. On the other hand the class Myxosporea which includes coelozoic and histozoic parasitites of fishes, amphibians and chelonians are well studied in India. This class consist of 2 orders, Bivalvulida and Mullivalvulida both of which with about 125 species have been reported from India as mentioned earlier in details.
Phylum Ciliophora
This Phylum comprises 3 classes, 7 subclasses and 18 orders, out of which all classes and subclasses with 16 orders are represented in India. As mentioned earlier about 600 species of ciliates including 200 parasitic species belonging to 150 genera under 70 families have been reported so far from India.
Taxonomic account of Indian ciliates, both freeliving and parasitlc, reported before 1935 are available in Bhatia's fauna on Ciliophora (1936). For subsequent works on freeliving ciliates Seshachar and his collaborators (1940-1970), Das, (1953-1966), Nair (1960 onwards), Mahajan (1969-1971, 1977) and Das (1971 onwards) may be referred.
All the ciliate endocommensals have been reported from the stomach, more particularly rumen of the cattle, sheep, goats and deer (see Ghosh, 1922, Bhatia, 1936, Banerjee, 1955, Choudhury and Chatterjee, 1962, Mandal,Ray and Nair, 1984). These endocommensals belong to the family Ophryoscalecidae under the order Entodiniomorphida and class Kinetofragminophorea., Mention may be made here that two non commensal species of the family Polydiniellidae under the aforesaid order, Viz., Elephantophilus zeta and Polydinium (now known as Polydiniella ) mysoreum have been reported from the caecum and colon of Indian elephant from Nilgiri Mountains (Kofoid, 1935).
Parasitic ciliates on the vertebrate hosts mainly belong to the orders Triehostomatida and Heterotrichida under the classes Kinetofragminophorea and Polyhymenophorea respectively. There are, however, few species (e.g. Trichodina spp.) which come under the order Peritrichidaof the class Oligohymenophorea (Bhatia, 1936, Tripathi, 1952, Das and Mukherjee, 1974 and Shete and his collaborators, 1984). Parasitic ciliates of the invertebrate hosts embrace mainly the orders Scuticociliatida and Astomatida of the classes Oligohymenophorea and Kinetofragminophorea respectively. There are, of course, several species of parasitic ciliates of invertebrates belonging to the orders Heterotrichida and Peritrichida (Bhatia, 1936, Chakraborty and Chatterjee, 1951-, Karandikar and Rodgi, 1958 and, Jamadar and Choudhury 1988).
Current Studies
In Ute Zoological Survey of India taxonomic studies of freeliving, parasitic and symbiotic protozoa of West Bengal and freeliving ciliates of the Chilka lagoon have been completed recently and those of Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are currently under study.
Outside ZSI, different universities and institutes are also engaged in studying different aspects of Protozoological research. The works on immunolog)' of Kala-azar parasites are being carried out in Calcutta University. In Kalyani University the taxonomical research particularly on Gregarines and Myxosporida is being continued. In Andhra University the works on both Taxonomy and Biology have been taken up on Microspora and Myxosporida. The study on coccidian parasites and parasitic flagellates are carried'out in the Marathwada University. The life cycle and taxonomy of gregarines are being dealt with in the Karnataka University. Haemosporidan parasites are given special-attention in the North Bengal University. Haryana Agricultural University (Dept. of Parasitology) is dealing with piroplasmid parasites along with their serroimmunology.
Experimental works on malaria, Leishmania and amoeba are being carried out in the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI); Lucknow. Several organisations like Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (lICB) Jadavpur, Calcutta, Cholera Research Centre (CRC), Calcutta and School of Tropical Medicine (STM), Calcutta are -also dealing with experimental/immunological works on Leishmania. The Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar is carrying research on theileriosis in cattle. Malaria Research Centre (MRC), New Delhi is dealing with the malarial pa(8sites of man in multi-dimensional way. The College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Parbhani, Maharashtra and Veterinary College, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore are dealing with the problems of coccidia and coccidiosis of cattle. Osmania University, Hyderabad is engaged in studying the freeliving ciliates particularly on their taxonomy.
Expertise India
In ZSI
A.K. MandaI, [Coccidia, Kinetoplastida, parasitic ciliates and Myxosporida]. A.K. Das, [Symbiotic flagellates; freeliving Rhizopoda {amoebida and Testacida and freeliving cilipbora (freshwater and estuarine)]. N.C. Nandi, [Haempsporinaand Myxosporida]. D.N. Tiwari, [Symbiotic flagellates.] all of ZSI, New Alipore, M Block, Calcutta.
Elsewhere
K. Misra, Rishi Bamkin Chandra Collage, Naihatri, 24 Parganas (N), West Bengal. [Kin~toplastida and Myxosporida]. D.P. Haldar, Dept. of Zoology Kalyani University Nadia, West Bengal. [Gregarines and Myxosporida]. Narashimamurthi, &C. Kalavati. Andhra University Waltair. Andhra Pradesh. [Microsporida and Myxosporida]. Krishnamurthi, Dept. of Zoology Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra. [Coccidia and Parasitic Flagellates].
B.B. Bhatia, Dept. of Parasitology Panth Nagar Agricultural University, Panthnagar, Uttar Pradesh. [Coccidia]. D.P. Banerjee, Dept. of Parasitology Haryana Agriculture-University Hissar, Haryana. [piroplasma] . Amoji, Karnatak University, Dharwar, Karnatak. [Gregarines]. Dasgupta, North Bengal University Darjeeling, West Bengal. [Haemosporida].
Abroad
J.R. Baker, Molteno Institure, Cambridge, England. [Blood Protozoa]. J.O. Corliss, University of Maryland, U.S.A. [Freeliving Ciliates]. G.F. Benneu, Memorial University ofNewfoundland and Canada. [Avian haematozoa]. Grell, Zoologisches Institure der Univ.ersitat, Tubingin West Gennany. [Foraminifera Shelled Rhizopod]. Lorn, Institute of Parasitology, Czechoslovakia Acadamy of Science, Prag, Czechoslovakia. Fish parasites. [Coccidia and Kinetoplastida]. Weiser, Dept of Pathology, Czechoslovakia Acadamy of Sciences, Prague, Czechoslovakia. [Microsporida] . Trager, Rockfeller University, New York. U.S.A. [Malarial Parasite]. Killick Mendrick, Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology Imperial College. London England. [Leishmania].
F.G. Wallacer, Department of Zoology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota [Trypanosoma]. Vickerman, Department ofZoology, University of Glasgow. Scotland. [Kinetoplastida]
Selected References
Bhatia B.L. 1936. The Fauna ofBritish India. Protozoa: Ciliophora, Taylor and Francis, London. xxii + 493 pp. Bhatia BL. 1938. The Fauna ofBritish India. Protozoa: Sporozoa, Taylor and Francis, London. xxii + 497 pp. Corliss, 1.0. 1979. The Ciliated protozoa 2nd Ed. Pergamon Press. xiv + 455 pp. Cushman, AJ. 1959 . Foraminifera. Harvard Univ. Press. ix + 605 pp. Das, A.K. 1983. A critique to the study of termite flagellates from India in relation to their hosts. Proc. Symp. Host environ. Zool. Surv. India. p. 39-53. Lavine, N.D. 1988. The Protozoan Phylum Apicomplexa Vol. I &11. CRC. Florida 203 pp. &154 pp. MandaI, A.K. 1984. A study on the haelnatozoa of fishes of commercial importance from India. Tech. Mono. No.9 Zool. Surv. India. 51 pp. Mandai, A.K. 1987. Fauna ofIndia Protozoa: Sporozoa: Eucoccidiida : Eimeriidal. Zoot. Surv. India. vii + 460 pp. Nandi, N.C. 1984. Index -catalogue of avian haematozoa from Inpia. Rec. Zool. Surv. India. Occ. Paper No. 48 : 64 pp. Ray, R & Choudhury, A. 1983. Trypanosomes of Indian anurans. Tech. mono. No.8, Zool. Surv. India. 60 pp. Ray, R &Choudhury, A. 1984. Haemogregarines of Indian anurans. Tech. mono. No. 10, Zool. Surv. India. 66 pp. Singh, BN. 1975. Pathogenic and non pathogenic Amoebae. London Macmillan. ix + 235 pp.
