Edesonfilaria cynocephali n. sp., a parasite of Cynocephalus variegatus taylori (Thomas) in Malaysia, is described. Makifilaria Krishnasamy et coll., 1981 is placed in synonymy with Edesonfilaria and the new combination E. inderi (Krishnasamy et coll., 1981) n. comb. is proposed. Edesonfilaria and the closely related genus Macacanema constitute a small evolutionary line of Filariae with a hyperspecialized oesophagus (the glandular portion lacks lumen); the line is restricted to the Indo-Malaysian region and occurs in arboreal Dermopterans, Chiropterans and Primates.