Molecular identification of Fascioloides magna (Bassi, 1875) from red deer from South-Western Poland (Lower Silesian Wilderness) on the basis of internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2)

Abstract

The study was conducted in 2012-2013 on 75 fecal samples of red deer from the Lower Silesian Wilderness which were examined to determine the prevalence of Fascioloides magna in the game population. Finding liver fluke eggs in a single sample which were larger in size than Fasciola hepatica eggs indicated that further molecular analysis was necessarily. The partial sequence (116 bp long) of ITS-2 of the investigated eggs was identical to the sequences of F. magna from red deer (Cervus elaphus) (GenBank, EF534993; GenBank, EF534992) and from wapiti deer (Cervus elaphus canadensis) (GenBank, EF534994) from Slovakia, as well as from fallow deer (Dama dama) from the USA (GenBank, EF051080). This is the first molecular confirmation of the occurrence of F. magna in Poland.