Moniezia expansa y Moniezia benedeni una parasitosis en rumiantes: una visión general de sus aspectos vinculados a su taxonomía

Abstract

Moniezia species are a group of globally distributed parasites that cause intestinal diseases in ruminant species characterized by decreased animal production and, in some cases, death of the host. A systematic literature review was conducted under a qualitative approach of narrative design and descriptive scope on an overview of the importance of Moniezia expansa and Moniezia benedeni, as well as some aspects related to their taxonomy, the 2 main species responsible for gastrointestinal infections in ruminants. For the search, the main databases were consulted, including Scopus, Web of Science, Taylor & Francis, PubMed, Latindex, SciELO, Dialnet, among others, using the Boolean logical operator. According to the review, gastrointestinal parasites constitute one of the main threats limiting the development and profitability of the livestock industry in tropical and subtropical areas. Among the causative agents of gastrointestinal diseases, monieziosis, caused by Moniezia spp., is a pathology with the highest frequency of occurrence among different livestock species. There are limitations in the identification of M. expansa and M. benedeni when only morphological characters are used, so molecular techniques have the potential to overcome the problems of identification of these and other species of the genus. The contributions of molecular biology are useful not only for inferring phylogenetic relationships among cestodes, but also for identifying molecular markers for future studies on diagnostics, population genetics and molecular ecology in Moniezia species. However, more genetic marker studies are required to accurately identify Moniezia species and to provide a basis for taxonomic investigations.