DISCRIMINATION 28S RIBOSOMAL GENE OF TREMATODE CERCARIAE IN SNAILS FROM CHIANG MAI PROVINCE, THAILAND.

Trematode cercariae are commonly found in many freshwater gastropods. These cercariae can serve to identify the occurrence of such trematodes as Centrocestus formosanus, Haplorchis taichui, Haplorchoides sp, and Stellantchasmus falcatus, which are important parasites in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. As the species of these cercariae cannot be identified accurately based on morphology, this study employed sequencing of a fragment of 28S ribosomal DNA and phylogenetic analysis to identify the trematode cercariae found in freshwater gastropods in Chiang Mai Province. Eight types of trematode cercariae were identified, namely, distome cercaria (grouped with Philophthalmus spp clade), echinostome cercaria (grouped with Echinostoma spp clade), furcocercous cercaria (grouped with Posthodiplostomum sp/Alaria taxideae/Hysteromorpha triloba clade), monostome cercaria (grouped with Catatropis indicus clade), parapleurolophocercous cercaria (grouped with Haplorchoides sp clade), pleurolophocercous cercaria (grouped with Centrocestus formosanus clade), transversotrema cercaria (grouped with Transversotrema spp clade), and xiphidiocercaria (grouped with Prosthodendrium spp clade). These results provide important information that can be used for identifying these parasites in epidemiological surveys.