Morphological and molecular taxonomy of helminths of the slow worm, Anguis fragilis (Linnaeus) (Squamata: Anguidae) from Turkey

Abstract

Fifteen specimens of the slow worm, Anguis fragilis (two juvenile, five males and eight females), collected in Trabzon and Bursa Provinces, Turkey, were examined for helminths. Anguis fragilis was found to harbour four species of helminths: one species of Digenea, Brachylaemus sp. and three species of Nematoda, Entomelas entomelas, Oxysomatium brevicaudatum and Oswaldocruzia filiformis. In addition, DNA isolated from the Nematodes was analysed with clustal w and blast computer programs for nucleotide sequences. Anguis fragilis from Turkey represents a new host record for Brachylaemus sp. Also, 28s rDNA sequencing of Oxysomatium brevicaudatum and Oswaldocruzia filiformis produced new nucleotide sequences submitted to Genebank (NCBI: National Center for Biotechnology Information). To the knowledge, this is the first DNA analysis of the helminth fauna of Anguis fragilis.