New species of Babesia isolated from lions.

Penzhorn and colleagues have reported the isolation of a distinctly new blood protozoan parasite from lions at the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The organism which appears to be specific to lions has been aptly called Babesia leo.
Babesia leo has been classified as a new species based on a phylogenetic analysis of the 18S rRNA gene. However, the intraerythrocytic trophozoite and merozoite stages of B. leo are impossible to distinguish from other feline piroplasms on the basis of morphological studies. antigenically distinct from B. felis, which is known to infect wild and domestic felids in South Africa.

Reference for further reading:
J Parasitol 2001 Jun;87(3):681-5. Babesia leo n. sp. from lions in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, and its relation to other small piroplasms. Penzhorn BL, Kjemtrup AM, Lopez-Rebollar LM, Conrad PA. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, Republic of South Africa.