ABSTRACT
Species of Sarcocystis and their most immediate relatives are ascribed to the subfamily Sarcocystidae. They form tissue cysts in various tissues of their intermediate hosts, which can persist for prolonged periods in a metabolically quiescent, developmentally arrested phase. These encysted stages are called sarcocysts because they are predominantly found in muscle tissue of the intermediate host. To complete the life cycle, all species of Sarcocystis require a second host (also termed the nal or denitive host). This host must be a carnivore that ingests the intramuscular cyst (with its infectious contents) and supports, in its intestinal tract, the parasite’s sexual development.1,2 Other parasites within this tissue-cystforming group include genera Besnoitia, Hammondia, Neospora, and Toxoplasma. These, too, have life cycles that depend on predator-prey relationships.
