Lymnaeid snails are vital in transmitting trematode cercariae as an intermediate host that can infect buffalo and other ruminants and humans, causing significant economic losses. The study aimed to conduct morphological and molecular identification of snails and cercariae collected from the selected buffalo farms under palm oil integration in Perak, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted, and 35 water were investigated for the presence or absence of snails. A total of 836 lymnaeid snails were collected from three marshes wetlands. To identify the snail family and species, morphological identification was performed on each snail’s shell, and to identify trematode cercariae types; the crushing method was used to observe the cercarial stage inside each snail’s body. In addition, the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) region and Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) was used as the target gene to identify the snail species and cercarial types up to the species level. The result showed that the collected snails belong to the family Lymnaeidae and Radix rubiginosa species. The infection rate by cercarial emergence in snails was 8.73%. Five morphological cercarial types were observed which include: echinostome, xiphidiocercariae, gymnocephalous, brevifurcate-apharyngeate distome, and vivax. Using molecular methods, the identified cercariae belong to the three families, including Echinostomatidae, Plagiorchiidae, and Fasciolidae. This is the first report on R. rubiginosa and different types of trematodes cercariae in buffalo farms under palm oil integration in Perak. Our finding confirmed that R. rubiginosa could serve as an intermediate host for a range of parasitic trematodes in Perak.

Background Canine tick-borne haemopathogens (TBH) constitute a significant concern worldwide. The detection of these TBH is mainly achieved by microscopic evaluation, seroprevalence, and molecular detection. The present study was designed to investigate the molecular detection of Anaplasma platys , Babesia gibsoni, Babesia vogeli , and Ehrlichia canis in shelter dogs and Rhipicephalus sanguineus ( sensu lato ) ticks infesting them in Malaysia.Results A total of 220 blood samples and 140 ticks were collected from 10 animal shelters in Peninsular Malaysia. The presence of haemopathogens was detected using conventional PCR, sequenced, and identified at the species level. Of the 220 blood samples, 77 (35%) were positive with at least one of the four haemopathogens, of which E. canis predominated (20%) followed by B. gibsoni and B. vogeli both with detection of 7%, and A. platys (12%). In tick samples, 5 (3.57%) of the collected samples were positive with at least one of the three haemopathogens. Low detection of E. canis and A. platys were present (n = 2; 1.43%) as well as B. vogeli shows only 1 sample positive (0.71%) and no detection of B. gibsoni . For co-infection in dogs, single infection is common (24%), while co-infection with two haemopathogens (10%) was also observed. The occurrence of infection with three TBH was also observed in the sampled dogs (1%).Conclusion E. canis is the most common TBH affecting shelter dogs in Peninsular Malaysia. Co-infection is quite common and the most common co-infection present was E. canis and A. platys. The study highlighted the first extensive molecular detection of TBH in dogs and R. sanguineus ( sensu lato ) ticks in Malaysia