Morphological and molecular characterization of six Indian Tetracotyle type metacercariae (Digenea: Strigeidae Railliet, 1919), using ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA

Morphological and molecular characterization of larval trematodes infecting the assassin snail genusAnentomein Thailand

“…The morphological identification of larval trematodes is difficult due to their small size, the limited number of taxonomically useful morphological characters and the intraspecific variability, but at the same time interspecific or even intergeneric homogeneity of these characters (Choudhary et al ., 2019). Therefore, the morphological identification of larval trematodes should be corroborated by DNA sequence data, since these are capable of identifying trematodes in any stage of their life cycle (Choudhary et al ., 2019).…”

“…The morphological identification of larval trematodes is difficult due to their small size, the limited number of taxonomically useful morphological characters and the intraspecific variability, but at the same time interspecific or even intergeneric homogeneity of these characters (Choudhary et al ., 2019). Therefore, the morphological identification of larval trematodes should be corroborated by DNA sequence data, since these are capable of identifying trematodes in any stage of their life cycle (Choudhary et al ., 2019). In this context, the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) genes are popular and informative markers for the identification and taxonomic interpretation of larval trematodes (Barnett et al ., 2014; Anucherngchai et al ., 2016; Dunghungzin & Chontananarth, 2020), particularly if they are used in combination with species delimitation methods (Pérez-Ponce De León et al ., 2016; Gordy & Hanington, 2019).…”