The identity of Leishmania tarentolae Wenyon 1921

A double clone of Trypanosoma platydactyli Catouillard, 1909, derived from a single trypomastigote from the blood of the Moorish gecko, Tarentola mauritanica, was grown in vitro. Morphogenesis of the parasites led to a stable population of promastigotes which were identical, in general morphology, ultrastructure and the electrophoretic mobility of 8 enzymes, to those cultures previously considered to be Leishmania tarentolae Wenyon, 1921. These cultures included the strain isolated from the type locality in Algeria by Parrot (1949) and later used as a laboratory model for the genus Leishmania. T. platydactyli and L. tarentolae are synonymized and the present status of saurian Leishmania parasites is discussed.