Morphological and molecular analyses of and species from red foxes () in northwestern China.

In this study, 263 tapeworms were collected from eight road-killed red foxes in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR, northwestern China). The tapeworms were analyzed based on morphological characters and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 () gene sequences. Eighty-three and 180 tapeworms were identified according to the presence or absence of rostellum, and the number, the length and the shape of the large rostellar hooks. The morphological and molecular analyses revealed that ) 180 tapeworms, here named as sp (), showed 99.21% (378/381 bp) identity to sp reported from red fox in Mongolia; and ii) 83 tapeworms belonged to three species. The first species [n = 16, named as sp ()], based on the length of large rostellar hooks (337-342 μm) and its sequence, was identified as a potentially novel species, which is phylogenetically close to . The second species [n = 54, named as sp. ( & )], was morphologically similar to according to the number (n = 52), the length (319-332 μm) and the shape of the large rostellar hooks. This species, infecting three red foxes, shared 100% sequence identity with sp. () genotype C found previously in great gerbils () in the same region. The third species (n = 13, named as -like), had shorter large rostellar hooks (178-180 μm) and showed 96.27% (361/375 bp) sequence identity to reported from red fox in Italy. The "great gerbil-red fox" life cycle of sp. ( & ), belonging to the mitochondrial lineage of . , is confirmed. The -like species was firstly found in red fox in China. sp () is a potentially novel species, which is close to . based on its phylogenetic properties.