Taxonomy of the Sleeping Sickness Trypanosomes

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Abstract
Arguments are presented for making Trypanosoma (Trypanozoon) gambiense and T. (T.) rhodesiense synonymous with T. (T.) brucei and for classifying them according to their undoubted differences in epidemiology, clinical pattern, and morphology at a subtaxonomic level as "strains" or "demes." Similar arguments cannot, at present, be applied to other members of subgenus Trypanozoon (i.e., T. (T.) evansi, T. (T.) equinum, and T. (T.) equiperdum). The term "clonal pleomorphism" is used to describe the diversity of form which occurs in species of subgenus Trypanozoon in order to avoid confusion with "genetic polymorphism" which is also found in T. (T.) brucei.