Entamoeba

Entamoeba
Entamoeba histolytica trophozoite
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Phylum:	Amoebozoa
Family:	Entamoebidae
Genus:	Entamoeba Casagrandi & Barbagallo, 1897
Type species
Entamoeba coli (Grassé 1879) Casagrandi & Barbagallo 1895
Species
E. bangladeshi E. bovis E. chattoni E. coli E. dispar E. ecuadoriensis E. equi E. gingivalis E. hartmanni E. histolytica E. insolita E. invadens E. moshkovskii E. muris E. nuttalli E. polecki E. ranarum E. struthionis E. suis E. terrapinae
Synonyms
Councilmania Kofoid & Swezy 1921

Entamoeba is a genus of Amoebozoa found as internal parasites or commensals of animals. In 1875, Fedor Lösch described the first proven case of amoebic dysentery in St. Petersburg, Russia. He referred to the amoeba he observed microscopically as Amoeba coli; however, it is not clear whether he was using this as a descriptive term or intended it as a formal taxonomic name.^[1] The genus Entamoeba was defined by Casagrandi and Barbagallo for the species Entamoeba coli, which is known to be a commensal organism.^[2] Lösch's organism was renamed Entamoeba histolytica by Fritz Schaudinn in 1903; he later died, in 1906, from a self-inflicted infection when studying this amoeba. For a time during the first half of the 20th century the entire genus Entamoeba was transferred to Endamoeba, a genus of amoebas infecting invertebrates about which little is known. This move was reversed by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in the late 1950s, and Entamoeba has stayed 'stable' ever since.