any protozoan parasite of the subphylum Cnidospora. The approximately 1,100 known species are characterized by walled spores with one to four hollow polar filaments. The spore has a multicellular origin—i.e., the cells that produce the spore capsule and the polar filaments before they degenerate may be considered somatic cells with specific functions. Observations indicate that the polar filament is a hollow tube through which the sporoplasm, the infective stage, travels from the spore to a tissue cell of the host where it grows into a plasmodium (a mass of cytoplasm with many nuclei).

This group is divided into four subgroups; Helicosporida, insect parasites (see Helicosporidium); Actinomyxida, worm parasites (see actinomyxidian); Microsporida, parasites of arthropods including insects (see microsporidian); and Myxosporida, fish parasites (see myxosporidian).