Babesia herpailuri Dennig, 1967
ETYMOLOGY:Babesia for Dr. Babès and herpailuri (genus of the jagurundi).
SYNONYMS: None.
This parasite was originally reported from a South American jagurundi, Felis yagouaroundi (syn. Herpailurus jagarundi) and shown capable of persisting in domestic cats after inoculation of blood from the infected jagurundi (Dennig HK. 1967. Eine unbekannte Babeienart beim Jaguarundi (Herpailurus yaguarundi). Kleintierpraxis 12:146-152; Dennig HK. 1969. Babesieningektionen bei exotischen Katzen und die Bedeutung dieser Blutparasiten für die tierärtliche Forschung. Acta Zool Pathol Antverp 48:361-367). A similar organism was seen again in the blood of a domestic cat with anemia in South Africa (Stewart CG, Hackett KJW, Collett MG. 1980. An unidentified Babesia of the domestic cat (Felis domesticus). J S Af Vet Assoc 51:219-221.). Babesia herpailuri represents a large form of Babesia that is differentiated from Babesia felis and Babesia cati by its larger size. Like Babesia cati, Babesia herpailuri does not form cruciform shapes typical of quaternary division within the red blood cell.