How to identify a new species?

If a parasitic creature was discovered, how would officials determine whether that parasite was a new species or an existing parasitic species? How long would that process take?

Assume the species is discovered in livestock (risking the food supply) first and then in the farmers who own that livestock (meaning it can infect multiple mammalian species, not just cattle or people). The creature in question isn't an obvious parasite like heartworms or tapeworms, but something new (or new to America at least), spreading, and so far as the initial discoverers can discern, 100% fatal. (So there's incentive to fast-track the process.) It is macroscopic by the time symptoms appear, but it's larval stage is microscopic.

I've been able to find notes on how long it takes to do forensic DNA analysis, but that's different; the goal there is to identify characteristics to find out who a person is. They already know the species -- human. And that process depends on how backlogged the lab that runs the tests is. And I know how long it takes veterinary labs to perform DNA tests for known species -- identifying avian influenza, for example. Those tests take between 1 and 5 days for the lab to carry out sample prep and testing for a known species.

I can't seem to find data for ruling out known species and then determining a new one.

Assume America and basically modern day/modern levels of real-world science.

posted about 7 years ago

CaM‭

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