Editing Entamoeba (section)

{{Short description|Genus of internal parasites}}
{{Distinguish|Endamoeba}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Entamoeba histolytica.jpg
| image_caption = ''[[Entamoeba histolytica]]'' [[trophozoite]]
| taxon = Entamoeba
| authority = Casagrandi & Barbagallo, 1897
| type_species = ''Entamoeba coli''
| type_species_authority = (Grassé 1879) Casagrandi & Barbagallo 1895
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
''[[Entamoeba bangladeshi|E. bangladeshi]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba bovis|E. bovis]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba chattoni|E. chattoni]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba coli|E. coli]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba dispar|E. dispar]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba ecuadoriensis|E. ecuadoriensis]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba equi|E. equi]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba gingivalis|E. gingivalis]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba hartmanni|E. hartmanni]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba histolytica|E. histolytica]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba insolita|E. insolita]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba invadens|E. invadens]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba moshkovskii|E. moshkovskii]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba muris|E. muris]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba nuttalli|E. nuttalli]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba polecki|E. polecki]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba ranarum|E. ranarum]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba struthionis|E. struthionis]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba suis|E. suis]]''<br/>
''[[Entamoeba terrapinae|E. terrapinae]]''
| synonyms = 
* [[Councilmania]] <small>[[Charles Atwood Kofoid|Kofoid]] & [[Olive Swezy|Swezy]] 1921</small>
}}

'''''Entamoeba''''' is a [[genus]] of [[Amoebozoa]] found as internal [[parasitism|parasite]]s or [[commensalism|commensal]]s 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.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lösch | first1 = F | year = 1875 | title = Massenhafte Entwickelung von Amöben im Dickdarm | url =https://zenodo.org/record/1428378 | journal = Virchows Archiv | volume = 65 | issue = 2| pages = 196–211 | doi=10.1007/bf02028799| s2cid = 6297817 }}</ref> The genus ''Entamoeba'' was defined by Casagrandi and Barbagallo for the species ''[[Entamoeba coli]]'', which is known to be a [[commensalism|commensal]] organism.<ref>*{{cite journal | last1 = Casagrandi | first1 = O. | last2 = Barbagallo | first2 = P. | year = 1895 | title = Ricerche biologiche e cliniche sull' ''Amoeba coli'' (Lösch). (Nota preliminare) | journal = Bollettino delle Sedute della Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali in Catania | volume = 39 | page = 4 }}</ref> 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.