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Background   Anaplasma  spp. are Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria transmitted by ticks. Even though numerous studies have detected DNA from  Anaplasma  spp. in the blood of birds, thus far mammals were the only vertebrates demonstrated to serve as competent hosts to these organisms. We report a novel candidate species of  Anasplasma  that was associated with cytoplasmic inclusions in the erythrocytes of an African penguin ( Spheniscus demersus ) in South Africa.    Methods  Cytoplasmic inclusions were morphologically characterized from freshly-produced blood smears, and phylogenetic analysis of  16S rRNA  and  groEL  genes were used to evaluate the evolutionary relationships of the organism to other  Anaplasmataceae .    Results  Dark-purple round or oval inclusions consistent with  Anaplasmataceae  morulae were observed in the cytoplasm of erythrocytes. Phylogenetic trees produced using different methods agreed that the organism detected in this study belongs to the genus  Anaplasma , and suggested that it is most closely related to the cluster comprising  A. centrale ,  A. capra ,  A. marginale  and  A. ovis . We propose provisionally naming the strain detected in this study as “ Candidatus  Anaplasma sphenisci”.    Conclusions  This is the first species of  Anaplasma  shown to produce cytoplasmic inclusions in avian cells, opening the possibility that cytoplasmic inclusions in avian erythrocytes that had previously been attributed to  Aegyptianella  sp. might in fact correspond to  Anaplasma . Further studies on the molecular biology of avian-infecting  Anaplasmataceae  will be valuable to provide insight into the evolution and epidemiology of these organisms.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-018-3089-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A novel candidate species of Anaplasma that infects avian erythrocytes