title: Allobilharzia visceralis gen. nov., sp. nov. (Schistosomatidae-Trematoda) from Cygnus cygnus (L.) (Anatidae).
abstract: In Iceland, the examination of whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus L.) viscera resulted in the detection of adult digenean flukes of the family Schistosomatidae. The mature worms occurring in the blood vessels of the large intestine and mesenterium caused vascular lesions, around the eggs deposited in the intestinal mucosa and liver granulomatous reactions developed. The morphology of the isolated schistosomes shows certain similarity with the flukes of the genus Trichobilharzia; in males reduced gynecophoral canal, and on both sexes both suckers and spatulate ends are present. However, the Icelandic flukes possess other morphological features which are distinct from the genus: the point of caecal reunion in males takes place posterior to gynecophoral canal and the genital pore is behind acetabulum and anterior to caecal reunion. In order to evaluate the identity of Icelandic schistosomes, sequencing of ITS region of DNA was performed, and the obtained sequence was deposited in GenBank under the accession no. DQ067561. Following phylogenetic analysis of relationship between the sequence of Icelandic flukes and database sequences of other bird schistosome genera (Trichobilharzia, Gigantobilharzia and Dendritobilharzia) showed different position of Icelandic worms in the phylogenetic tree. In conclusion, our study revealed new genus and species of schistosome flukes--Allobilharzia visceralis gen. et sp. n.
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory for Tissue Helminthoses, Department of Microbiology, Institute for Postgradual Medical Education and 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Ruská 85, 100 05 Prague 10, Czech Republic. libuse.kolarova@ipvz.cz
authors.forename: Libuse
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kolárová
authors.forename: Jitka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rudolfová
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hampl
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Skírnisson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046090:Anseriformes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000469:parasitology*; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D007055:Iceland; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012547:Schistosoma / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal