Elaeophora sagitta

Elaeophora sagitta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Nematoda
Class:	Secernentea
Order:	Spirurida
Family:	Onchocercidae
Genus:	Elaeophora
Species:	E. sagitta
Binomial name
Elaeophora sagitta (Linstow, 1907) Anderson & Bain, 1976

Elaeophora sagitta is a parasitic nematode found in the heart, coronary arteries and pulmonary arteries of several ruminant species and African buffaloes in Africa. Infestation usually occurs without significant health effects in the Greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), but may affect cardiac function in some other host species.

This species was first described in 1907 from the heart of a Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) from Cameroon, and named Filaria sagitta. In 1926, it was transferred to the genus Cordophilus, as Cordophilus sagittus. In 1976, the genus Cordophilus was made a synonym of the genus Elaeophora, so this species became Elaeophora sagitta.

Adults of E. sagitta have been found attached to the inner walls of the chambers and vessels of the heart, as well as the arterioles of the lungs of various hosts: Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), Greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), bongos (Tragelaphus eurycerus), nyala (Tragelaphus angasii), common eland (Taurotragus oryx), and African Forest Buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus). This species has also been found in unspecified "cattle". Lesions similar to those described in E. sagitta infestations were also found in sheep (Ovis aries), but the actual parasites were not recovered.E. sagitta has been found in several African nations: Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mocambique, the Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Swaziland.

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