Axenic Cultivation of Trypanosomatids Found in Corn (<i>Zea mays</i>) and in Phytophagous Hemipterans (<i>Leptoglossus zonatus</i> Coreidae) and Their Experimental Transmission

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Trypanosomatids isolated from corn seeds and from digestive tract and salivary glands of Leptoglossus zonatus (Hemiptera, Coreidae) were obtained in pure cultures. In experimental transmission, the flagellates present in naturally infected insects were able to infect laboratory‐raised corn. A simplified liquid culture medium was established that increased parasite yield three‐ to five‐fold. Cultured and cloned parasites, and forms found in insects and corn as well, were studied by light and electron microscopy. A remarkable finding was the observation that the cultured strain 163M bears a surface coat similar to that observed in naturally occurring African trypanosomes. but not observed in trypanosomes in vitro. Based on the biochemical characteristics of the arknine‐ornithine cycle and on the presence of this cell coat, we propose that the strain 163M is a new species and name it Herpetomonas macgheei n. sp.