Volume 49/Number 2/Abstract 11
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Acta Parasitologica, Vol.49, No. 2, 2004, 173-176
Domenico Otranto(1)* and Donato Traversa(2) - Molecular evidence indicating that Przhevalskiana silenus, P. aegagri and P. crossii (Diptera, Oestridae) are one species

(1)Department of Animal Health and Welfare, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Strada Provinciale per Casamassima km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari; (2)Department of Biomedical Comparative Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Piazza Aldo Moro 45, 64100 Teramo; Italy
Corresponding address: d.otranto@veterinaria.uniba.it
ABSTRACT

Goat warble fly infestation is a subcutaneous myiasis present in many European and Asian countries. The causative agents of this myiasis have been assumed to be Przhevalskiana silenus (Brauer, 1858), P. aegagri (Brauer, 1863) and P. crossii (Patton, 1922) (Diptera, Oestridae). On the basis of morphological and biochemical data, some authors have considered P. silenus, P. aegagri and P. crossii as a single species. To clarify this taxonomic issue, the most variable regions of the mitochondrial gene encoding for the subunit I of cytochrome oxidase (COI) and of the 28S rRNA gene, were characterized molecularly for larvae morphologically identified as P. silenus, P. aegagri and P. crossii. The high genetic homology among the sequences of these putative species (>= 99.71% for the COI gene and 100% for the 28S gene), indicates that P. aegagri and P. crossii are morphotypes of the single species P. silenus.


KEY WORDS: Przhevalskiana silenus, P. aegagri, P. crossii, Oestridae, Diptera, molecular identification

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