A description of a new species of the genus Brachydistomum (Trematode, Dicrocoeliidae) from the Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus (Linnaeus) (Passeriformes) in Japan, with a report on the first intermediate host.

Abstract

The trematode Brachydistomum suzume n. sp. (Dicrocoeliidae) was detected in the Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus, and described as a new species in Japan. This new species can be distinguished from the other members of the genus on the basis of morphological characters of suckers and reproductive organs. A partial sequence of adult mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) was used as a DNA barcode, and dicrocoeliid sporocysts and cercariae detected from four camaenid land snail species, Bradybaena pellucida, Brad. similaris, Acusta sieboldiana and Euhadra brandtii, were molecularly identified as the new species. Phylogenetic trees of nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA and COI also showed the new species to be distinct from the other trematode species, including Brachydistomum spp.