A genus of fungus that causes a serious disease in humans and animals, found mainly in desert regions of the Americas.
From 'coccidium' (a parasitic protozoan) plus Greek '-oides' (resembling), named because early scientists thought it resembled coccidia before realizing it was a fungus.
This fungus was so hard to identify that scientists initially thought they were looking at a parasite, not a fungus—it fooled expert biologists for decades and shows how organisms can disguise their true nature under the microscope.
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