Morphological and molecular description of Armillifer moniliformis larvae isolated from Sri Lankan brown palm civet (Paradoxurus montanus).

We report Armillifer moniliformis species infecting the endemic Sri Lankan brown palm civet (Paradoxurus montanus) from the Knuckles Range Forest Conservation Area, Sri Lanka. Larval stages of A. moniliformis were found during the postmortem of three civet cats found dead. Morphological studies were done by a light microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Histopathological examination was conducted using tissue samples obtained from the liver. For the molecular analysis, DNA was extracted from the isolated third-stage larvae. The NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) and the second internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-2), a portion of the large subunit nuclear ribosomal DNA (28S), a portion of 18S ribosomal rRNA gene (18S), and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (COX1) were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Excysted third-stage larvae were observed in the lungs, omentum, the pleural cavity, the abdominal cavity, and the surface of the spleen and the pericardium. Around 88 third-stage larvae were isolated from three civet cats. First-stage larvae in the liver were surrounded by outer fibrous layer over the inner germinal layer and filled with clear fluid. Slight hemorrhage, leukocyte infiltration, and mild hepatocellular degeneration in the liver were observed. The SEM examination indicated the unique oral apparatus comprises the oval-shaped mouth opening in between two pairs of curved, retractile hamuli. The sequences obtained for ND5, ITS-2, 28S, 18S, and COX1 were 301, 382, 325, 414, and 644 bp in length respectively. Morphology, sequence similarity search, sequence alignment, and phylogenetic analysis identified this parasite as A. moniliformis.