Filarial parasites of the genus Onchocerca are found in a broad spectrum of ungulate hosts.
One species, O. volvulus, is a human parasite that can cause severe disease
(onchocerciasis or 'river blindness'). The phylogenetic relationships and the bionomics of
many of the nearly 30 known species remain dubious. Here, the phylogeny of 11 species
representing most major lineages of the genus is investigated by analysing DNA sequences
from three mitochondrial genes (ND5, 12S and 16S rRNA) and portions of the intergenic …