An approach to revealing blood fluke life cycles, taxonomy, and diversity: provision of key reference data including DNA sequence from single life cycle stages.

ABSTRACT: Revealing diversity among extant blood flukes, and the patterns of relationships among them, has been hindered by the difficulty of determining if specimens described from different life cycle stages, hosts, geographic localities, and times represent the same or different species. Persistent collection of all available life cycle stages and provision of exact collection localities, host identification, reference DNA sequences for the parasite, and voucher specimens eventually will provide the framework needed to piece together individual life cycles and facilitate reconciliation with classical taxonomic descriptions, including those based on single life cycle stages. It also provides a means to document unique or rare species that might only ever be recovered from a single life cycle stage

SUBMITTER: Brant SV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2519025 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature