Nosema bombycis

Nosema bombycis^[1] is a species of Microsporidia of the genus Nosema infecting silkworms, responsible for pébrine. This species was the first microsporidium described, when pebrine decimated silkworms in farms in the mid-19th century. This description was made by Carl Nägeli. Louis Pasteur, taking up an idea of Osimo which had not been successful,^[2] showed breeders a practical way to select uninfected individuals to recreate new healthy farms.

Nosema bombycis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Phylum:	Microsporidia
Family:	Nosematidae
Genus:	Nosema
Species:	N. bombycis
Binomial name
Nosema bombycis Nägeli, 1857

References

1. So named by K.W. Nägeli, "Ueber die neue krankheit der Seidenraupe und verwandte organismen", Botanische Zeitung, 1857; 15:760-761.
2. Pasteur mentions Osimo's ideas in Louis Pasteur, Studies on silkworm disease; Œuvres complètes, t. 4, p. 38-39, online. Summarizing a development by the Pasteurian Émile Duclaux (Émile Duclaux, Pasteur, histoire d'un esprit, Sceaux, 1896, p. 198, online), P. Debré writes that Pasteur was "led to propose a seed sorting method almost identical to that recommended a few years earlier by Orcino [read: Osimo]. If the latter had failed, asserts Pasteur, it was through a lack of confidence; which, of course, is not his case." P. Debré, Louis Pasteur, Flammarion, 1994, p. 210.