Motile stage of Coccidia that is formed during schizogony (merogony) inside the parasitophorous vacuole of a host cell. It is limited by a 3-layered pellicle and equipped with an apical complex in order to enter host cells (Fig. 1), (Coccidia/Host Cell Invasion). The merozoites of eimerids (e.g., genus Eimeria , Toxoplasma , Sarcocystis ) possess a conoid, while it is lacking in haemosporideans and piroplasms. Merozoites initiate either another schizogonic process or become gamonts.
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© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Mehlhorn, H. (2016). Merozoite. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_1897-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_1897-2
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