onchocercidae onchocercidae the onchocercidae are a family of nematodes in the superfamily filarioidea. this family includes some of the most devastating human parasitic diseases, such as lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, loiasis, and other filariases. onchocercidae foleyella furcata in the blood of lizards from madagascar scientific classification kingdom: animalia phylum: nematoda class: chromadorea order: rhabditida superfamily: filarioidea family: onchocercidaechabaud and anderson, 1959 genera see text representative genera and species the taxonomy of nematodes in the order spirurida is still in a state of flux, and the family onchocercidae contains around 70–80 genera. the following genera are included in the family onchocercidae in the wikispecies project and the entrez taxonomy browser. the latter is the taxonomic system used in the ncbi family of databases, including pubmed. acanthocheilonema acanthocheilonema viteae (parasite of gerbils in eastern europe, iran, and north africa) acanthocheilonema reconditum (parasite of dogs) brugia brugia malayi (one cause of filariasis in humans) brugia pahangi (parasite of domestic cats and wild animals) brugia timori (cause of "timor filariasis" in humans) breinlia cercopithifilaria cercopithifilaria johnstoni (parasite of rodents and marsupials in australia) chandlerella chandlerella quiscali (parasite of birds in north america) dipetalonema dipetalonema reconditum (parasite of dogs, and sometimes humans) dipetalonema repens (parasite of dogs, and sometimes humans) dirofilaria dirofilaria immitis (heartworm in dogs and cats, occasionally humans) dirofilaria repens (parasite of dogs, and sometimes humans) dirofilaria tenuis (parasite of raccoons, and rarely humans) dirofilaria ursi (parasite of bears, and sometimes humans) elaeophora elaeophora abramovi (parasite of moose in russia) elaeophora bohmi (parasite of horses in austria and iran) elaeophora elaphi (parasite of red deer in spain) elaeophora poeli (parasite of various cattle in africa and asia) elaeophora sagitta (parasite of several mammal groups in africa) elaeophora schneideri (parasite of various ruminants in north america) foleyella foleyella furcata (parasite of lizards) litomosa litomosa westi (parasite of bats) litomosoides litomosoides brasiliensis (parasite of bats) litomosoides scotti (parasite of the marsh rice rat) litomosoides sigmodontis (parasite of rodents) litomosoides wilsoni (parasite of opossums) loa (see also loa loa filariasis) loa loa mansonella (see also mansonelliasis) mansonella ozzardi (parasite of man in central and south america) mansonella perstans (parasite of humans and primates in africa and south america) mansonella streptocerca (parasite of humans in africa) ochoterenella ochoterenella digiticauda (parasite of amphibians) onchocerca onchocerca gibsoni (parasite of cattle in asia and australia) onchocerca gutturosa (parasite of cattle in africa, europe, and north america) onchocerca volvulus (parasite of humans in africa, six countries in latin america, and yemen), cause of river blindness) onchocerca lupi (parasite of canines in the united states, greece, portugal, germany, hungary, switzerland, and canada), cause of canine ocular onchocerciasis) piratuba piratuba digiticauda (parasite of amphibians) sarconema sarconema eurycerca (cause of heartworm in swans) waltonella waltonella flexicauda (parasite of bullfrogs) wuchereria wuchereria bancrofti (parasite of humans, cause of "bancroftian filariasis") wuchereria kalimantani (parasite of monkeys in indonesia)