The Japanese amberjack Seriolae quinqueradiata is one of the most consumed fish species among the Koreans. However, information regarding parasitic infection in Japanese amberjack is scarce. This study described the morphological and molecular characteristics of a species of philometrid nematode, Philometroides seriolae, which was recovered from Japanese amberjack. This fish was caught in the sea of Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea (Korea). Six P. seriolae (Nematoda: Philometridae) were recovered from 2 Japanese amberjacks. These parasites were subgravid female which were 325-420 mm long and 2.95-3.27 mm wide. Furthermore, they had typical papillae distributed on their body surface with 14 papillae at the apical view. Sequence analysis of the small subunits of ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) showed high sequence identity (99.8%, 1,607/1,611-bp) with that of P. seriolae (GenBank accession no. FJ155811). This nematode species has been newly added to the Korean nematode fauna.

Surveys on helminthic fauna of the nutria, Myocastor coypus, have seldom been performed in the Republic of Korea. In the present study, we describe Strongyloides myopotami (Secernentea: Strongyloididae) recovered from the small intestine of feral nutrias. Total 10 adult nutrias were captured in a wetland area in Gimhae-si (City), Gyeongsangnam-do (Province) in April 2013. They were transported to our laboratory, euthanized with ether, and necropsied. About 1,300 nematode specimens were recovered from 10 nutrias, and some of them were morphologically observed by light and scanning electron microscopies. They were 3.7-4.7 (4.0+/-0.36) mm in length, 0.03-0.04 (0.033) mm in width. The worm dimension and other morphological characters, including prominent lips of the vulva, blunted conical tail, straight type of the ovary, and 8-chambered stoma, were all consistent with S. myopotami. This nematode fauna is reported for the first time in Korea.
Animals ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Rodent Diseases/epidemiology/*parasitology ; Rodentia ; Strongyloides/*isolation & purification ; Strongyloidiasis/epidemiology/parasitology/*veterinary

In July 2014, a nematode species, Schistorophus cirripedesmi Rhizhikov and Khokhlova, 1964, was recovered from a bar-tailed godwit, Limosa lapponica baueri that was stored in a -20˚C freezer in the Chungnam Wild Animal Rescue Center. The bird was collected in 2012 from the coastal region of Pyeongtaek-si (City), Gyeonggi-do (Province) in the Republic of Korea, although the exact date is not clear. At necropsy, 9 nematodes were found in the gizzard of the bird. The parasites had 4 horn-like cephalic cuticular ornamentations. After morphometric comparison and morphological observations, including scanning electron microscopy, the nematodes were identified as S. cirripedesmi. This is the first description of a nematode species in a shorebird in Korea. This is also the first time this genus and species have been found in Korea.
Animals ; Animals, Wild ; Birds ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Gizzard ; Gyeonggi-do ; Korea* ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Parasites ; Republic of Korea

Aspidogastrid trematodes (Subclass Aspidogastrea) are a relatively small group with a characteristic adhesive disc and parasitize in a variety of cold-blooded hosts. Until now, only 2 species in the genus Cotylaspis, i.e., C. coreensis and C. sinensis, have been reported as the aspidogastrid trematode in the Republic of Korea (=Korea). In the present study, we intended to describe a species of aspidogastrids collected from the small intestine of the common carp, Cypri-nus carpio, in a faunistic point of view. Total 51 specimens were collected from a carp caught in Nakdong-gang (River) on May 2015. Some of them were prepared as the specimens for light microscopic observations, and some others were prepared for SEM. They were slightly elongated without head lobes, 2,432×840 μm in average size, and had characteristic adhesive discs with 4 rows and 46 alveoli in average. The ovary was reniform and was located in the posterior-upper part of the body. The single testis was larger than the ovary and was located below the ovary. The uterus was coiled containing numerous eggs and distributed in the posterior 2/3 of the body. The vitellaria were follicular, and distributed from the mid-level of testis to near the posterior end. The morphological characters with dimensions of our specimens were closely identical with those of Aspidogaster ijimai previously described. A new aspidogastrid is added among the Korean trematode fauna by the present study.
Adhesives ; Carps* ; Eggs ; Female ; Head ; Intestine, Small ; Korea* ; Ovary ; Ovum ; Republic of Korea ; Testis ; Uterus

The majority of parasitological studies of terrestrial snakes in Korea have focused on zoonotic parasites. However, in the present study, we describe 3 unrecorded nematode species recovered from 5 species of snakes (n=6) in Korea. The examined snakes, all confiscated from illegal hunters, were donated by the Chungnam Wild Animal Rescue Center and Korean Broadcasting System in July 2014 and February 2015. Light and scanning electron microscopies on the shapes of spicules that are either bent or straight (kalicephalids) and the presence of the intestinal cecum (ophidascarids) figured out 3 nematodes; Kalicephalus brachycephalus Maplestone, 1931, Kalicephalus sinensis Hsü, 1934, and Ophidascaris excavata Hsü and Hoeppli, 1934. These 3 species of nematode faunas are recorded for the first time in Korea.
Animals ; Animals, Wild ; Cecum ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Korea ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Parasites ; Republic of Korea* ; Snakes*

Human sparganosis is a zoonotic disease caused by infection with larval forms (procercoid/plerocercoid) of Spirometra spp. The purpose of this study was to identify Spirometra spp. of infected snakes using a multiplex PCR assay and phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the spargana of terrestrial snakes obtained from Korea and China. A total of 283 snakes were obtained that included 4 species of Colubridae comprising Rhabdophis tigrinus tigrinus (n=150), Dinodon rufozonatum rufozonatum (n=64), Elaphe davidi (n=2), and Elaphe schrenkii (n=7), and 1 species of Viperidae, Agkistrodon saxatilis (n=60). The snakes were collected from the provinces of Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Gyeongbuk in Korea (n=161), and from China (n=122). The overall infection rate with spargana was 83% (235/283). The highest was recorded for D. rufozonatum rufozonatum (100%), followed by A. saxatilis (85%) and R. tigrinus tigrinus (80%), with a negative result for E. davidi (0%) and E. schrenkii (0%). The sequence identities between the spargana from snakes (n=50) and Spirometra erinaceieuropaei (KJ599680) or S. decipiens (KJ599679) control specimens were 90.8% and 99.2%, respectively. Pairwise genetic distances between spargana (n=50) and S. decipiens ranged from 0.0080 to 0.0107, while those between spargana and S. erinaceieuropaei ranged from 0.1070 to 0.1096. In this study, all of the 904 spargana analyzed were identified as S. decipiens either by a multiplex PCR assay (n=854) or mitochondrial cox1 sequence analysis (n=50).
Agkistrodon ; China* ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Colubridae ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Korea* ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis ; Snakes* ; Sparganosis ; Sparganum ; Spirometra* ; Viperidae ; Zoonoses

Parasites are recorded from the red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris, from Cheongju, the Republic of Korea. A total of 5 road-killed squirrels were thoroughly examined for internal and external parasites from November 2011 to May 2014. Total 4 parasite species, including 1 tapeworm and 3 ectoparasite species were recovered. They were morphologically identified as Catenotaenia dendritica (Cestoda: Catenotaeniidae), Hirstionyssus sciurinus, Leptotrombidium pallidum, and Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) indages. Among them, C. dendritica and H. sciurinus are recorded for the first time in the Korean parasite fauna. In addition, the possibility that the red squirrel could act as a reservoir host for a zoonotic disease like tsutsugamushi disease with L. pallidum as its vector has been raised.
Cestoda ; Chungcheongbuk-do* ; Globus Pallidus ; Korea* ; Parasites ; Republic of Korea ; Sciuridae* ; Scrub Typhus ; Trombiculidae ; Zoonoses

The genus Spirometra belongs to the family Diphyllobothriidae and order Pseudophyllidea, and includes intestinal parasites of cats and dogs. In this study, a plerocercoid labeled as Spirometra mansonoides from the USA was examined for species identification and phylogenetic analysis using 2 complete mitochondrial genes, cytochrome c oxidase I (cox1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 3 (nad3). The cox1 sequences (1,566 bp) of the plerocercoid specimen (USA) showed 99.2% similarity to the reference sequences of the plerocercoid of Korean Spirometra decipiens (GenBank no. KJ599679), and 99.1% similarity in regard to nad3 (346 bp). Phylogenetic tree topologies generated using 4 analytical methods were identical and showed high confidence levels with bootstrap values of 1.00, 100%, 100%, and 100% for Bayesian inference (BI), maximum-likelihood (ML), neighbor-joining (NJ), and maximum parsimony (MP) methods, respectively. Representatives of Diphyllobothrium and Spirometra species formed a monophyletic group, and the sister-genera status between these species was well supported. Trapezoic proglottids in the posterior 1/5 region of an adult worm obtained from an experimentally infected cat were morphologically examined. The outer uterine loop of the uterus coiling characteristically consisted of 2 complete turns. The results clearly indicated that the examined Spirometra specimen from the USA matched to S. decipiens very well, and indicated possible presence of the life cycle of this species in this region.
Adult ; Animals ; Cats ; Diphyllobothrium ; Dogs ; Electron Transport Complex IV ; Genes, Mitochondrial ; Humans ; Life Cycle Stages ; NADH Dehydrogenase ; Parasites ; Sparganum ; Spirometra* ; Trees ; United States* ; Uterus

We describe 2 echinostome species recovered from an Eastern cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis coromandus, from Cheongju-si (city), Chungcheongbuk-do (province), Korea. Total 72 Pegosomum bubulcum specimens were recovered from the bile duct. They were 7,566×2,938 μm in average size and had 27 collar spines with vitelline extension from anterior 1/3 level of the esophagus to mid-level of the posterior testis as characteristic features. Total 9 specimens of Nephrostomum ramosum were recovered in the small intestines of the bird. They were ribbon-shaped, 11,378×2,124 μm in average size, and morphologically variable in some organs, i.e., the number of collar spines (47-50), the shape of ovary and testes, and the extension of vitelline follicles. These morphological variations observed in a single host indicated that these features are not critical for the classification of Nephrostomum species and thus were reconsidered taxonomically as synonym of N. ramosum. This study is the first report documenting and describing both flukes and their associated genera in Korea.
Animals ; Bile Ducts ; Birds ; Cattle* ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Classification ; Esophagus ; Female ; Intestine, Small ; Korea ; Ovary ; Parasites ; Republic of Korea* ; Spine ; Testis ; Trematoda ; Vitellins

The present study was performed to compare the mitochondrial genomes between 2 Spirometra tapeworms, Spirometra erinaceieuropaei and Spirometra decipiens (Cestoidea: Diphyllobothriidae), which larval stages are important etiological agents of sparganosis in humans. For each species, the full mitochondrial genome was amplified in 8 overlapping fragments using total genomic DNA purified from a single worm as the template. The mitochondrial genomes were 13,643 bp (S. erinaceieuropaei) and 13,641 bp (S. decipiens) in length and contained 36 genes; 12 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA, small and large subunits), and 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs). The 12 protein-coding genes constituted 10,083 bp (S. erinaceieuropaei) and 10,086 bp (S. decipiens) of their respective mitochondrial genomes. The tRNA genes, ranging in length from 56 to 70 bp, were identified based on putative secondary structures such as the typical cloverleaf shape. A total of 23 intergenic sequences, varying from 1 to 204 bp in size, were interspersed in S. erinaceieuropaei (total, 504 bp) and S. decipiens (total, 496 bp) mtDNA. The 12 protein-coding genes of S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens differed by 12.4%, whereas the overall difference in mtDNA sequence between S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens was 12.9%. Thus, from the standpoint of the mitochondrial genome, S. decipiens represents a valid species that can be distinguished from S. erinaceieuropaei.
Animals ; Base Sequence ; Cestode Infections/parasitology ; DNA, Mitochondrial/chemistry/genetics ; *Genome, Helminth ; *Genome, Mitochondrial ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Nucleic Acid Conformation ; Open Reading Frames ; Phylogeny ; Spirometra/chemistry/classification/*genetics