Parvilucifera rostrata

The family Parviluciferaceae (Myzozoa, Perkinsozoa) encompasses ten species of generalist parasitoids of dinoflagellates distributed in five genera and showing very similar morphology and life cycles. Among those, Parvilucifera rostrata is distinguished by ultrastructural features of zoospores (i.e., biflagellate infective stages) and the morphology of processes covering the wall of sporocytes (i.e., last developmental stage). The life cycle starts with a zoospore invading a dinoflagellate host concomitantly to its death, with the trophocyte (i.e., feeding stage) evident after ~24 h and changing in 3–4 days to an extracellular sporocyte, which also can act as a resting stage. The sporocyte turns from white to dark when hundreds of zoospores are ready to be released and infect novel hosts. P. rostrata has been reported mainly in estuarine systems on the French side of the English Channel, where it has been linked to the demise of toxic dinoflagellate blooms.