Department of Fish Resources and Aquatic Animals, College of Agriculture Engineering Sciences, Salahaddin University-Erbil, Erbil, Iraq.
Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2024 Jan 31;70(1):143-147. doi: 10.14715/cmb/2024.70.1.19.
Hirudinea leeches are obligate parasites on a variety of vertebrates and have recently gained attention for their medicinal purposes. The present study aimed to improve the presence of Hirudo medicinalis in Kurdistan and Iraq (especially because it is regarded as a native species in this region). A total of 23 leech specimens were collected from Felaw Pond during January-July 2023. The collected specimens were investigated morphologically and their species were confirmed according to their partial sequence of 18s rDNA. Primers used were universal, C1 (ACCCGCTGAATTTAAGCAT) (forward primer), and C3 (CTCTTCAGAGTACTTTTCAAC) (reverse primer). The results of the morphological study and molecular sequencing of partial 18s rDNA demonstrated that all these leech specimens belonged to Hirudo medicinalis with an abundance of 0.13 leech/ m2. The present record was the first one investigating this species in Iraq.
蛭类（医用水蛭）是多种脊椎动物的专性寄生虫，最近因其药用价值而受到关注。本研究旨在增加库尔德斯坦和伊拉克（特别是因为它被认为是该地区的本地物种）中蚂蟥的存在。2023 年 1 月至 7 月，从费拉湖共采集了 23 只蚂蟥标本。收集的标本进行了形态学研究，并根据其 18s rDNA 的部分序列确定了它们的种类。使用的引物是通用的，C1（ACCCGCTGAATTTAAGCAT）（正向引物）和 C3（CTCTTCAGAGTACTTTTCAAC）（反向引物）。形态学研究和部分 18s rDNA 分子测序的结果表明，所有这些蚂蟥标本均属于医用水蛭，丰度为 0.13 条/平方米。这是在伊拉克首次调查该物种的记录。
