Abstract
The African schistosomes fall naturally into two main groups of sibling species, the S. haematobium complex and the S. mansonil S. rodhaini group. Morphological differentiation of the species within each group depends on small differences in the eggs but in many cases there are clear biological differences in definitive and intermediate host specificity and in parasitic site within the host, and these criteria serve to strengthen a classification based on egg morphology. Nevertheless, many authors have disputed the validity