As in all Plasmodium species, P. pifanoi has both vertebrate and insect hosts.

[1] The asexual stages are irregular in shape and do not have a vacuole.

The average length × width product is 72.9 (range: 52 – 112) and the average length / width ratio is 2.18 (range: 1.1 – 3.3).

Macrogametocytes during active infection are longer than microgametocytes with a greater length-width product.

Gametocytes in chronic infection are slightly smaller and are not sexually dimorphic in their dimensions.