MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF SOME SPECIES OF NEMATODE OF THE FAMILY PROTOSTRONGYLIDAE LEIPER, 1926

Objective of research. The purpose of this research is to carry out morphological and molecular genetic identification and to determine phylogenetic relationship among Protostrongylidae species.Materials and methods. Helminthological material was collected from domestic hollowhorned ruminants and land mollusks in different areas of Uzbekistan. The morphology of protostrongylids was studied using the methods of Boev (1975) and Anderson (1978). The firststage larvae were investigated by examination of fecal samples from animals taking into account remarkable morphological features of larvae without dorsal cuticular thorn at the tail point (for Protostrongylinae) and with thorn (for Muelleriinae, Varestrongylinae et al.] as well as length, tail form and body size of larvae. To study the morphology of the third-stage protostrongylid larvae, the feet of infected mollusks X. candaсharica were separated and placed into the artificial gastric juice. Nucleotide sequences ITS-2 regions of species Protostrongylus rufescens, P. shiozawai, Ortostrongylus macrotis, Cystocaulus ocreatus and Umingmakstrongylus pallikuukensis were used to study phylogenetic relations between protostrongylids. The phylogenetic analysis was conducted using the software Clustal X 2.0.Results and discussion. Based on morphological and molecular examinations, five species of protostrongylid nematodes: Protostrongylus rufescens, P. hobmaieri, Protostrongylus sp., Spiculocaulus leuckarti and Cystocaulus ocreatus were found in hollow-horned ruminants. The morphological and molecular-genetic analysis of detected nematodes enables precise identification of species and spatial distribution of endemic protostrongylids