RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Neimark, Harold A1 Hoff, Brent A1 Ganter, MartinYR 2004 T1 Mycoplasma ovis comb. nov. (formerly Eperythrozoon ovis), an epierythrocytic agent of haemolytic anaemia in sheep and goats JF International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, VO 54 IS 2 SP 365 OP 371 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.02858-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1466-5034, AB Eperythrozoon ovis, an erythrocytic agent that causes haemolytic anaemia in sheep and goats, occurs worldwide and is currently thought to be a rickettsia. To determine the relationship between this agent and other haemotrophic bacterial parasites, the 16S rRNA gene of this organism was sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this wall-less bacterium is not a rickettsia, but a mycoplasma. This mycoplasma is related closely to several other uncultivated, epierythrocytic mycoplasmas that comprise a recently identified group, the haemotrophic mycoplasmas (haemoplasmas). The haemoplasma group is composed of former Eperythrozoon and Haemobartonella species, as well as newly identified epierythrocytic mycoplasmas. Haemoplasmas parasitize the surface of erythrocytes of a wide variety of vertebrate animal hosts and are transmitted mainly by blood-feeding arthropod vectors. Recognition that E. ovis is a mycoplasma provides a new approach to dealing with this bacterium. It is proposed that E. ovis should be reclassified as Mycoplasma ovis comb. nov., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijs.0.02858-0