Morphological variability within Oesophagostomum bifurcum among different primate species from Ghana

Abstract

Adult Oesophagostomum bifurcum (Nematoda: Strongylida) from human and non-human primates from Ghana were compared in order to investigate the extent of morphological variability within the species. Using analysis of variance and principal component analysis, significant differences in morphological characters (such as parasite length, width, length of the oesophagus and length of spicules) were demonstrated between O. bifurcum worms from humans, the Mona, Patas or Green monkey and/or Olive baboons. These findings suggest that O. bifurcum from different species of primate host represent distinct population variants, also supported by recent epidemiological and genetic studies of O. bifurcum f..