Taxonomic justification of the pathogenic strongylid infecting the Arabian camel Camelus dromedarius as Haemonchus longistipes by morphological and molecular phylogeny

Abstract

There is still lack of morphological and phylogenetic information on the pathogenic nematode of the camel Haemonchus longistipes. In the present study, this parasite was isolated in Saudi Arabia and described. The abomasa of two Arabian camels were collected from a slaughterhouse in Abha province and examined for nematode infection. Worms were described morphologically and morphometrically by electron microscopy. Multiple sequence alignment and the phylogenetic tree of the parasite were constructed from maximum likelihood analysis of its ITS-2 rDNA sequences. These nematodes had a slender body terminating anteriorly at a conspicuous dorsal lancet. A pair of lateral cervical papillae distant from the anterior end was observed. The buccal aperture was hexagonal and surrounded by two amphids, six externo-labial papillae, and four cephalic papillae. Males terminated posteriorly at a bursa supported by spicules and lateral and dorsal rays. Females were linguiform and knobbed morphotypes with distinct ovijectors and a dorsal rim covering the anal pore. The taxonomy was confirmed by the morphology and number of the longitudinal cuticular ridges in a 43-46 range. The sequence alignment and phylogeny revealed 92% homology with H. longistipes (AJ577461.1), and the sequence was deposited into GenBank. The present study describes H. longistipes morphologically and molecularly which facilitates further discrimination of this species worldwide.