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Title: RECOMMENDED TERMINOLOGY AND ADVANCES IN THE SYSTEMATICS OF THE CYATHOSTOMINEA (NEMATODA: STRONGYLOIDEA) OF HORSES

Author
item Lichtenfels, James
item GIBBONS, L - ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE
item KRECEK, R - ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE

Submitted to: Veterinary Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2002
Publication Date: 9/22/2002
Citation: LICHTENFELS, J.R., GIBBONS, L.M., KRECEK, R.C. RECOMMENDED TERMINOLOGY AND ADVANCES IN THE SYSTEMATICS OF THE CYATHOSTOMINEA (NEMATODA: STRONGYLOIDEA) OF HORSES. VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY. 107: 337-342. 2002.

Interpretive Summary: Strongyloid nematodes are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in equines in the United States. Resistance to antiparasitic drugs is common and alternative control methods for these parasites are needed. The 65 species in horses can be identified by a few authorities using comparative anatomy of adult stages, but larval stages are exceptionally difficult to identify and eggs are impossible to identify to even subfamily level. Thi study describes advances made in the systematics and terminology of the nematodes. The advances resulted from 3 Internal Workshops organized by an ARS scientist. The results will be used by researchers worldwide working to control these economically important nematodes of horses, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, the Food and Drug Administration, and scientists evaluating biological control agents. The information is essential for progress in developing diagnostic probes, biological control agents and antiparasitic drugs for larval cyathostomiasis, an emerging disease of horses worldwide.

Technical Abstract: Terminology for the Tribe Cyathostominea (cyathostomins) and the disease syndromes they cause (cyathostominosis) were recommended by the third Internal Workshop on the Systematics of Cyathostominea of Horses, held in Stresa Italy, August 28, 2001. The considerable progress by this international working group at 3 workshops is briefly reviewed and a list of publications is provided. Included are an annotated checklist by genus and species of 93 species level names and the recognition of 51 species, redescriptions of 7 species, and the redescription of one new species. Upon petition by workshop participants, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (in Opinion 1972) placed Cyathostomum tetracanthum Mehlis, 1831 on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology ending more than a century of controversy over the names of cyathostomins. Some progress is described in molecular and morphological systematics and in the edevelopment of diagnostic molecular probes. A revised identification key is being prepared to the 52 species of the Tribe Cyathostominea.