Morphological and taxonomic studies on mammalian trypanosomes

Abstract

Owing to inadequate and conflicting descriptions, there have always been doubts about the identity of Trypanosoma dimorphon, which is commonly regarded as a synonym of T. congolense. However, the occurrence of atypical strains, with characters like those of T. dimorphon, has re-opened the question of the possible independence of this species.To solve this problem, the author has undertaken a complete revision of T. dimorphon, based on Laveran and Mesnil's original type-material. In the course of this work, a total of 1200 trypanosomes, belonging to samples taken from animal passages in the course of 4 years, were studied biometrically and morphologically.