Family Onchocercidae

Rev. 07/19/2024

 

Phylum Nematoda

  Class Chromadorea
    Subclass Chromadoria

     Order Rhabditida

        Superfamily Filarioidea

Onchocercidae (Leiper 1911) Chabaud and Anderson 1959

 

Filarial nematode parasites. Several species are involved in important filariasis diseases of humans and domestic animals.  Several are associated with Wolbachia bacterial endosymbionts (Bain et al., 2008).

The term ‘filarial worms’or ‘filariae’ historically denotes the genera of nematodes in the family Filariidae (Cobbold 1864) Claus 1885. This was correct until the family Onchocercidae Chabaud and Anderson 1959 was established. Most of the genera that were previously considered as filarial worms of the Filariidae were transferred to the new family Onchocercidae (including Onchocerca, Loa, Brugia, Wuchereria, Dirofilaria, Acanthocheilonema, Cercopithifilaria, Deraiophoronema, Dipetalonema, Elaeophora, Litomosoides, Mansonella and Skrjabinofilaria). Only a few genera remained in the family Filariidae (Filaria, Parafilaria, Suifilaria and Stephanofilaria).

Thus, the use of 'filarial worms' or 'filariae' for denoting onchocercids, and other nematode species of public health significance became etymologically incorrect. Both Filariidae and Onchocercidae belong to the superfamily Filarioidea. While Onchocerca spp. are etymylogically not ‘filariid worms’ they are undoubtedly biologically filarioid worms. Therefore, the use the terms 'filarioid worms' or 'filarioids'  as general terms for Filariidae, Onchcercidae and other taxa of similar biology, is recommended (Kassal, 2002.).

Filarial nematodes are generally considered to be transmitted by haematophagous arthropod vectors, mostly mosquitoes (Culicidae) or arachnids (Acari) (Anderson, 2000). The main mosquito vector species in Europe belong to the Aedes, Anopheles, Ochlerotatus, and Culex genera (Czajka et al., 2012; Kemenesi et al., 2015). Climatic and ecological factors may affect the life cycle of both the mosquito vector and the filarial parasites.

References

Anderson, R.C., 2000. Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates: Their Development and Transmission. CABI Publishing, Wallingford.

Bain, O., M. Casiraghi, C. Martin and S. Uni 2008. The Nematoda Filarioidea: critical analysis linking molecular and traditional approaches. Parasite 15:342-348.

Czajka, C., Becker, N., Poppert, S., Jöst, H., Schmidt-Chanasit, J., Krüger, A., 2012. Molecular detection of Setaria tundra (Nematoda: Filarioidea) and an unidentified filarial species in mosquitoes in Germany. Parasit. Vectors 11 (5), 14.

Kassal, T. 2002. A worm by any other name. Trends in Parasitology 18:246.

Kemenesi, G., Kurucz, K., Kepner, A., Dallos, B., Oldal, M., Herczeg, R., Vajdovicz, P., Binjai, K., Jakab, F. 2015. Circulation of Dirofilaria repens, Setaria tundra, and Onchocercidae species in Hungary during the period 2011–2013. Veterinary Parasitology 214: 104-11

 

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