The development of Onchocerca ochengi (nematoda: filariodea) to the infective stage in Simulium damnosum s.l. with a note on the histochemical staining of the parasite.

Onchocerca ochengi, an intradermal filarial parasite of cattle in Africa, was shown to develop normally to the infective stage in a member of the Simulium damnosum complex, almost certainly S. sanctipauli. The development of the parasite in the thoracic musculature and head of the fly was completed in 6 days at an ambient temperature of 25-30 degrees C. The larvae were very similar in rates of development, morphology and distribution to those of the human parasite O. volvulus in the same vector. No histochemical differences were found in the enzyme staining of O. ochengi distinct from the pattern described earlier for O. volvulus.