Rubricytes may be confused with which cell type?

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Rubricytes are late erythroid precursors with a round, dark nucleus and only a small amount of cytoplasm. On a Wright-Giemsa smear this combination can look like a small lymphocyte, which also has a round, dense nucleus with minimal cytoplasm. The similarity in size and the high nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio is what leads to the confusion. Other options have more distinctive features: monocytes have a larger, often kidney-shaped nucleus with more cytoplasm, eosinophils show granules and a bilobed nucleus, and megakaryocytes are large cells with complex, lobulated nuclei and abundant cytoplasm. So the cell most likely to be mistaken for a rubricyte is a lymphocyte.