Evidence for Hybrid Formation in the Genus Leishmania

Until recently it was generally assumed that reproduction in the genus Leishmania was by asexual binary fission, and that a sexual process was denied to these organisms. Studies on Leishmania isolated from man, wild animals and sandflies in the Al-Ahsa oasis of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (Evans et al., 1988), have revealed the presence of organisms which appear to be hybrids.