plasmodium lucens plasmodium lucens plasmodium lucens is a parasite of the genus plasmodium subgenus novyella. as in all plasmodium species, p. lucens has both vertebrate and insect hosts. the vertebrate hosts for this parasite are birds. plasmodium lucens scientific classification domain: eukaryota clade: diaphoretickes clade: tsar clade: sar clade: alveolata phylum: apicomplexa class: aconoidasida order: haemospororida family: plasmodiidae genus: plasmodium species: p. lucens binomial name plasmodium lucensvalkiūnas et al., 2008 taxonomy the parasite was first described by valkiūnas et al. in 2008. distribution this parasite is found in west africa. vectors not known. hosts p. lucens infects the olive sunbird (cyanomitra olivacea).