On completion of their growth and maturation as trophozoites, a proportion of parasites mature into the sexual (gametocyte) stage that will be concluded within the gut of the mosquito. The stage may form male or female forms which have different size.
Explanation of correct answer (click "Expand")
Short answer taken from section "Schizont Biology" (see the section for full details and links).
Schizonts make repeated cycles of asexual development to generate muliple daughter "merozoites". The number of replication cycles differs between species: the typical number of merozoites formed differs between species with as few as 8 (in P.malariae) up to a possible 32 (in P.vivax). This stage may not be seen in blood films: the schizonts of P.falciparum adhere within the small vessels so is not seen in blood unless infection is very severe
This progressive maturation means that they have a wide range of morphological forms (as shown in the diagram at the top of this page). When the merozoites are released this exposes the body to large amounts of free parasite antigens and can result is an immune response causing high fever and illness symptoms. In some cases the development of parasites is synchronous so that all schizonts mature and release their merozoites at the same time - although rarely seen now, this pattern of development may produce a pattern of remitting fever with a distinct periodicity depending on species: underlying the older descriptive terms tertian or quartan malaria.
