Mansonella ozzardi: A Redescription with Comments on Its Taxonomic Relationships *

Abstract

Mansonella ozzardi is redescribed from adult worms collected from the subcutaneous tissues of patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) infected with a Haitian strain of the filaria. The worms are small and very slender; females measure about 49 mm in length by 0.15 mm in diameter and males, 26 by 0.07 mm. Haitian (Caribbean) and Colombian (Amazon) forms of the filaria are morphologically identical, as are their microfilariae. Mansonella is most closely related to Tetrapetalonema. Based on taxonomic priority the latter becomes a synonym of Mansonella. As a consequence, T. perstans and T. streptocerca of man in Africa are designated as M. perstans (Manson, 1891) n. comb. and M. streptocerca (Macfie and Corson, 1922) n. comb. Further, M. ozzardi is most closely related to the species M. llewellyni (Price, 1962) n. comb., a parasite of the raccoon, and M. interstitium (Price, 1962) n. comb. found in squirrels, both in North America.

The morphological discrimination of microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus from Mansonella ozzardi

“…Of course the morphology of the adults and microfilariae of M. ozzardi has been described (Orihel & Eberhard, 1982 ;Kozek, Eberhard & Raccurt, 1983), but in view of the lack of recognition that M. ozzardi commonly occurs in the skin there is no account that specifically compares the morphology of microfilariae of M. ozzardi and O. volvulus for the purposes of distinguishing these two species when they might occur together in a skin biopsy (or peripheral blood sample). However, most standard texts refer to the body size (length and sometimes width) and the pattern of nucleation of the tail.…”

Genetic Characterization of Atypical Mansonella (Mansonella) ozzardi Microfilariae in Human Blood Samples from Northeastern Peru

“…M. ozzardi was identified in Peru by morphological characteristics. 7 The difference between Mf of M. ozzardi and the atypical Mf is shown in Figure 1. Total genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples and dried blood smears using QIAamp DNA extraction kits (QIAGEN, Germantown, MD).…”

En face view ofMansonella (Mansonella) akitensis(Uni, 1983) by scanning electron microscopy

“…The architecture of the cephalic extremity is an important key to differenciate the subgenera in the genus Mansonella (Anderson and Bain, 1976 ;Chabaud and Bain, 1976 ;Eberhard and Orihel, 1984 ;Orihel and Eberhard, 1982).…”

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The architecture of the cephalic extremity is an important key to differenciate the subgenera in the genus Mansonella (Anderson and Bain, 1976 ;Chabaud and Bain, 1976 ;Eberhard and Orihel, 1984 ;Orihel and Eberhard, 1982).M. akitensis from the Japanese black bear was examined by SEM for its en face view of the head on one female adult recently collected from the perirenal adipose tissue of a black bear of the type locality, Akita, Japan.

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