Prevalence Rate and Molecular Characteristics of Oestrus ovis L. (Diptera, Oestridae) in Sheep and Goats from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Heads of sheep (n = 600) and goats (n = 800) slaughtered at Al-Aziziah Abattoir in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were inspected for the presence of O. ovis larvae (L). Heads were split along the longitudinal axes, and larvae (L1, L2, and L3) were gathered. The infestation rate was significantly higher in goats (44.5%; 356/800) than that in sheep (22.3%; 134/600). Out of the 151 collected larvae from sheep, 0% were L1, 1.3% were L2, and 98.7% were L3. Out of the total of 468 larvae from goats, 0% were L1, 1.2% were L2, and 98.8% were L3. The infestation rate was significantly higher in males than that in females. Myiasis-causing larvae collected from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were authenticated as O. ovis, according to morphological characteristics. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a partial fragment (600 bp) of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene further confirmed the species. Phylogenetic analysis based on the partial mtCOI gene sequence demonstrated that 23 unique sequences showed high similarity based on nucleotide pairs of O. ovis accessions retrieved from GenBank.