Life cycle of a Plasmodium species that causes malaria

Only the zygote is diploid.
1 Infected mosquito bites a human. Haploid sporozoites enter blood, which carries them to the liver.
2 Sporozoites reproduce asexually in liver cells, then mature into mero-zoites. Merozoites leave the liver and infect red blood cells.
3 Merozoites reproduce asexually in some red blood cells.
4 In other red blood cells, merozo-ites differentiate into gametocytes.
5 A female mosquito bites and sucks blood from the infected per-son. Gametocytes in blood enter her gut and mature into gametes, which fuse to form diploid zygotes.
6 Meiosis of zygotes produces cells that develop into sporozoites. The sporozoites migrate to the mosquito’s salivary glands.