MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES SUGGESTING A SEXUAL PROCESS IN A TRYPANOSOMATID OF THE GENUS HERPETOMONAS

Morphological features resembling those described in Herpetomonas mega seliae, and likewise suggesting a sexual process, were also found in a axenic cultures of a Herpetomonas sp. isolated from the salivary glan ds of a phytophagous hemipteran. These features have been frequent ove r a 3-year period and were quantitatively evaluated during the parasit e growth in LIT medium at 27 degrees C. In Giemsa-stained smears, the more noticeable findings were: (1) pairs of apposed promastigotes join ed by the posterior ends, where a ring-like line and/or an enlargement occurs; (2) bell-shaped cells, either free or in pairs with promastig otes; (3) in several pairs, features suggesting nucleus migration and fusion. Indirect immunofluorescence of beta-tubulin and scanning elect ron microscopy suggested cellular fusion in these pairs.