Babesia lengau sp. nov., a novel Babesia species in cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Schreber, 1775) populations in South Africa.

In a previous paper, we reported on a large number of cheetah blood specimens that gave positive signals only for Babesia and/or Theileria genus-specific probes on the reverse line blot (RLB) assay, indicating the presence of a novel species or variant of an existing species. Some of these specimens were investigated further by microscopic, serological, sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses. The near-full-length 18S rRNA genes of 13 samples, as well as the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) region, were amplified, cloned, and sequenced. A species-specific RLB probe, designed to target the hypervariable V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene for detection of the novel Babesia sp., was used to screen an additional 137 cheetah blood specimens for the presence of the species. The prevalence of infection was 28.5%. Here we describe the morphology and phylogenetic relationships of the novel species, which we have named Babesia lengau sp. nov.