[1] The parasite was isolated from a bush rock hyrax (Heterohyrax brucei hoogstraali) in 1950 by Hoogstraal and Lawless in Torit, South Sudan.

Filaments are present on parasitized erythrocytes making their identification easy.

The earliest stages (ring forms) are less than two micrometers in size and are oval or round in shape.

The smaller of these may be up to 5 micrometers in size, circular in outline, with pale blue cytoplasm that is free of granules.

Trophozoites: these multiply by binary fission in the erythrocytes and form pairs.