Serendipitous discovery of a novel protostrongylid (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea) in caribou, muskoxen, and moose from high latitudes of North America based on DNA sequence comparisons

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Kutz, Susan J., Asmundsson, Ingrid, Hoberg, Eric P., Appleyard, Greg D., Jenkins, Emily J., Beckmen, Kimberlee, Branigan, Marsha, Butler, Lem, Chilton, Neil B., Cooley, Dorothy, Elkin, Brett, Huby-Chilton, Florence, Johnson, Deborah, Kuchboev, Abdurakhim, Nagy, John, Oakley, Michelle, Polley, Lydden, Popko, Richard, Scheer, Aedes, Simard, Manon, Veitch, Alasdair
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2007
• Subjects: Arctic; Alces alces; Moose; ovibos moschatus; Rangifer tarandus; Subarctic; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z07-091; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/Z07-091; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/Z07-091

Fecal samples are often the only feasible means to assess diversity of parasites in wildlife; however, definitive identification of egg or larval stages in feces by morphology is rarely possible. We determined partial sequences from the second internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-2) of nuclear ribosomal DNA for first-stage, dorsal-spined larvae (DSL) in feces from caribou ( Rangifer tarandus tarandus (L., 1758), Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788), Rangifer tarandus grantii (Allen, 1902)), muskoxen ( Ovibos moschatus moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780), Ovibos moschatus wardi Lydekker, 1900), moose ( Alces alces gigas Miller, 1899 and Alces alces andersoni Peterson, 1952), and from the tissue of one slug ( Deroceras laeve (Müller, 1774)) in Arctic–Subarctic North America. A previously uncharacterized, genetically distinct species was recognized based on sequences of 37 DSL from 19 ungulate hosts and the slug. Sequence similarity among individuals of this novel species was 91%–100%. For many individual DSL, paralogues of ITS-2 were detected. ITS-2 sequences from the novel species were 72%–77% similar to those of Varestrongylus alpenae (Dikmans, 1935) and 51%–61% similar to those of other protostrongylids known in North American and some Eurasian ungulates. Results indicate a discrete lineage of an undescribed protostrongylid infecting muskoxen, caribou, and moose from Alaska to Labrador. Sympatric infections with Parelaphostrongylus andersoni Prestwood, 1972 were found in three caribou herds.