MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION an‎d PHYLOGENETIC-TREE ANALYSIS OF MONIEZIASPECIES FROM SHEEP IN AL-DIWANIYAH CITY

The present study was performed to detect the molecular and the phylogenetic identification of species that belonging to the genus of MonieziaBlanchard, 1891 which affected intestines of sheep in Al-Diwaniyah city, Iraq; fifty intestine samples were sought for the infestation of Monieziaspp. from the city slaughterhouse from 1 October to 30 November 2017, this tapeworm was found to infest the intestines of 13 sheep.For morphological identify the genus of this tapeworm, eggs from one gravid proglottid of the thirteen worms were examined, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the PCR-product-based sequencing were applied on 4 Monieziatapeworms targeting a specific region of the 18S rRNA gene.The sequencing has shown 2 species of Moniezia, SP1 and SP2 ,these two species revealed close matching on the phylogenetic tree to an according to the current study findings, Monieziaspp. affect on sheep in the city of Al-Diwaniyah, Iraq, these findings give interesting information about the evolution history of this worm in the studied city.