Mitochondrial DNA data reveal cryptic species within Taenia krabbei

Cysticerci of Taenia sp. from two elks (Alces alces) in Finland were characterized using morphological criteria and sequences of two mitochondrial DNA regions. The host species, size, structure and location of the cysticerci indicated that they might belong to Taenia krabbei, a circumpolar species occurring in a sylvatic life cycle in wild canids and cervids. Based on the number, length and shape of the rostellar hooks, the specimens could not be unambiguously defined as belonging to T. krabbei, T. cervi, T. ovis or T. solium. In the phylogenetic analysis, based on mitochondrial nucleotide sequence data, Taenia sp. was placed as a sister species of T. solium, distant from T. krabbei isolates previously characterized from Svalbard. This indicates that the Finnish and the Svalbard isolates, resembling T. krabbei, cannot represent a single species. The results suggest that careful morphological and genetic analyses of further isolates from intermediate and definitive hosts are required to define the taxonomic status of these two cryptic species.