DNA sequence characterisation and phylogeography of Lymnaea cousini and related species vectors of fascioliasis in northern Andean countries with description of L. meridensis n. sp. (Gastropoda: Lymnaeidae)

摘要

BackgroundLivestock fascioliasis is a problem throughout Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, mainly in Andean areas where the disease also appears to affect humans. Transmission patterns and epidemiological scenarios of liver fluke infection have shown to differ according to the lymnaeid vector snail species involved. These Andean countries present the vectors Lymnaea cousini, L. bogotensis and L. ubaquensis, unknown in the rest of Latin America. An exhaustive combined haplotype study of these species is performed by means of DNA sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal 18S RNA gene, ITS-2 and ITS-1, and mitochondrial DNA cox1 gene.