Introduction: Plasmodium pitheci and the orang‑utan malaria puzzle Malaria parasites in non-human primates (NHP) span over 250 Plasmodium species that infect humans and other primates alike. Among Asian NHPs, orang‑utans (Pongo spp.) host several malaria lineages, including Plasmodium pitheci. Although previous work has described morphological infections and certain genetic markers, a fully validated mitochondrial (mt)…