Figure 2

Summary schematic phylogeny of the interrelationships of members of the species within the Schistosoma genus estimated with a Bayesian analysis of combined partial lsrDNA , complete ssrDNA and partial cox1 . Nodal support indicated as posterior probabilities and bootstrap percentages (n = 2000) from maximum parsimony analysis. This tree also indicates the four main clades and the two referred to in this study, which in the past have been classified on their egg morphology and both intermediate and definitive hosts: the S. japonicum group (S. sinensium, S. ovuncatum (inferred from partial lsrDNA) S. japonicum, S. malayensis, S. mekongi) being basal to the Schistosoma group, and the S. mansoni group (S. mansoni, S. rodhaini) being the first major split in the African clades, with the S. indicum group (S. nasale, S. spindale, S indicum) and the S. haematobium group (S. margrebowiei, S. leiperi, S. mattheei, S. intercalatum, S. kisumuensis, S. haematobium, S. guineensis, S. curassoni and S. bovis). The tree also illustrates the basal nature of Asian schistosomes, being ancestral to the African stock due to the relative positions of S. hippopotami, S. edwardiense (Inferred from partial cox1), Orientobilharzia and S. incognitum. (Adapted from [8–10])