Abstract: Molecular biology methods make up the insufficiency of the traditional morphological classification with the advantages of convenience and high specificity. So molecular classification provides a powerful tool for the identification of species or strains of Echinococcus.The research progress on molecular classification of Echinococcus was summarized in this paper, which was studied by analysis of mitochondrial genes (such as cox1, nad1, cob, and so on) and ribosomal genes.

Key words: Echinococcus; molecular classification; mitochondrial gene; ribosomal gene