A list of myxozoan genera is presented in the current taxonomical scheme. These genera are defined; their type species and most important pathogens along with their hosts are listed. Simultaneously, definitions of actinospore stages representing sexual stages of the myxosporean life cycle are given; altogether, 17 actinospore collective groups with 180 types have been described. Life cycles of the two classes of the phylum Myxozoa, Malacosporea and Myxosporea, are briefly outlined with specification of the appropriate terms. Up to now, 4 malacosporean and 2,180 myxosporean species assigned to a total of 62 genera, have been established. The surviving classification of myxosporeans, based on spore morphology, is discussed in the context of the still fragmentary data resulting from SSU rDNA sequence analyses. The main task for the future is a rigorous, detailed morphological description combined with molecular techniques in establishment of new species and in revision of the existing ones. Establishment of a classification acceptable from morphological, biological and phylogenetical viewpoints is necessary.

Institute of Parasitology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Branisovská 31 370 05 Ceské Budĕjovice Czech Republic

Comparative transcriptomics reveal stage-dependent parasitic adaptations in the myxozoan Sphaerospora molnari

Intraspecific Morphometric Variation in a New Species of Ceratomyxa Thélohan 1892 (Cnidaria) from the South Atlantic Ocean: An Ecomorphological Study Using Geometric Morphometrics

Solving the Myxidium rhodei (Myxozoa) puzzle: insights into its phylogeny and host specificity in Cypriniformes

To React or Not to React: The Dilemma of Fish Immune Systems Facing Myxozoan Infections

Morphological and molecular-genetic characterization of Chloromyxum trilineatum n. sp. (Myxosporea: Bivalvulida) in the gall bladder of pale chub (Zacco platypus) in Japan

The description of two new species of Chloromyxum from skates in the Argentine Sea reveals that a limited geographic host distribution causes phylogenetic lineage separation of myxozoans in Chondrichthyes

Biodiversity and host-parasite cophylogeny of Sphaerospora (sensu stricto) (Cnidaria: Myxozoa)

Repatriation of an old fish host as an opportunity for myxozoan parasite diversity: The example of the allis shad, Alosa alosa (Clupeidae), in the Rhine

Species complexes and phylogenetic lineages of Hoferellus (Myxozoa, Cnidaria) including revision of the genus: A problematic case for taxonomy

Severe glomerular disease in juvenile grey snapper Lutjanus griseus L. in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the myxozoan Sphaerospora motemarini n. sp

Molecular evidence for the existence of cryptic species assemblages of several myxosporeans (Myxozoa)

History of myxozoan character evolution on the basis of rDNA and EF-2 data