Bivitellobilharzia nairi

Bivitellobilharzia nairi, common name elephant schistosome, is part of the family Schistosomatidae. It is most closely related to the blood fluke Bivitellobilharzia loxodontae, which uses African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) as a definitive host. Each of these schistosomes, that are part of the genus Bivitellobilharzia, sit near the base of a branch within the schistosome family that contains mammal-infecting species. This is a fairly new identified endoparasite that was found in 1955 by Mudaliar and Ramanujachari, who first recorded the parasite in India.