rhabdospora rhabdospora rhabdospora is a genus assigned to cells found in a variety of fish. first reported in 1892, there has since been disagreement over whether rhabdospora represents a parasite of the phylum apicomplexa or a specialized fish cell. rhabdospora scientific classification domain: eukaryota (unranked): sar (unranked): alveolata phylum: apicomplexa class: aconoidasida subclass: haemosporidiasina order: achromatorida genus: rhabdospora species rhabdospora thelohani history in 1892, thélohan described unusual looking cells from the intestine of various fishes. in 1895, laguessé named these cells rhabdospora thelohani or "rodlet cells", determining them to be parasites that infect the fish. since then, there has been disagreement over whether r. thelohani is an apicomplexan parasite or a specialized intestinal fish cell. description the exact nature and status of this genus remains an open question. some authors consider the descriptions of this species to be an error while others have reported features consistent with its inclusion in the apicomplexia. host records spirlin (alburnoides bipunctatus ohridanus) antarctic snaggletooth (borostomias antarcticus) european chub (leuciscus cephalus albus) minnow (phoxinus phoxinus) south european roach (rutilus rubilio) three-spined stickleback (gasterosteus aculeatus)