Parasitology, Harold W. Manter Laboratory of
Date of this Version
1982
Abstract
Cladistic analysis of 13 species of Enterobius based on 31 morphological characters supports the notion that pinworms and primates have co-speciated. A possible exception is the relationship between Enterobius vermicularis and Homo. Enterobius vermicularis is postulated to be the sister-species of E. buckleyi + E. lerouxi + E. anthropopitheci. Thus, if co-speciation has occurred, Homo is the sister-group of Pongo + Gorilla + Pan. Examination of the possibility that E. vermicularis in Homo is the result of host-switching or that Homo has been misclassified demonstrates that the latter possibility is the more parsimonious one.
Comments
Published in Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington 49(1), 1982, pp. 76--S5