Giardia

Giardia is a genus placed in the Fornicata, and many of its species are named for the animals they were found in. Giardia intestinalis comes from several mammals including humans. Others have been described from amphibians such as frog tadpoles, from many birds including herons, egrets, a toucan and a parakeet, from rodents such as muskrats, voles and the brown rat, and from cats, dogs, goats, sheep, cattle, horses, sloths and a slender loris. Giardia serpentis was named from a common night adder, which shows that the genus also reaches reptiles.