Preliminary Molecular Identification of Two Helminthes (Moniezia sp. and Paramphistomum sp.) In the Province of Taif, Saudi Arabia

The two ruminant parasites; Moniezia sp. and Paramphistomum sp. were collected from Taif province and examined molecularly by sequencing 346 nucleotides of cytochrome C subunit 1 gene. The data were used along with those of several other helminthes species from the Genbank to identify these two species genetically and construct their relationship. Neighbor-joining (NJ), maximum-parsimony (MP) and maximum-likelihood (ML) analytical methods were used. The three methods showed sister relationship of Moniezia sp. from Taif and M. benedeni and clustering of Paramphistomum sp. with Fasciola. Such relationship was strongly supported for the first and was questionable for the second and did not support the morphological identification of Moniezia sp. as M. expansa but presumed that it could be M. benedeni. We could not be able to identify molecularly to which species Paramphistomum belongs. Collecting more samples and DNA data along with conducting electron microscopic description could be necessary to clarify more definitely the exact identification of both species.