MOLECULAR AND MORPHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE DESCRIPTION OF THREE NEW GYRODACTYLUS
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | Viviparous monogeneans belonging to family Gyrodactylidae Cobbold, 1864 are microscopic ectoparasitic flatworms with direct and extremely short life cycle. In Africa, 48 species from five genera parasitizing hosts belonging in 14 families, including freshwater fishes and frogs, have been recorded. The highest number of Gyrodactylus species has been described from hosts from Clariidae Bonaparte, 1846 and Cichlidae Heckel, 1840. Fishes from Cichlidae are a highly diverse group within the African bony fishes and have noteworthy economic importance especially on local scale. The present study deals with the parasites of the genus Gyrodactylus parasitizing cichlids collected in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Fishes were sampled from Nwanedi River in South Africa and at three localities in Zimbabwe; Zambezi River, Lake Kariba and Lake Chivero. Results from analyses of metrical parameters and shape of hard parts of attachement organ supported by molecular sequences of rDNA ITS fragment were compared with those available in the nucleotide database. The comparison revealed the presence of three new Gyrodactylus species. Gyrodactylus sp.1 was observed on gills of Coptodon rendalli and Pseudocrenilabrus philander. Gyrodactylus sp. 2 was found on fins of Oreochromis niloticus, Pharyngochromis acuticeps and P. philander, and Gyrodactylus sp. 3 was identified from P. philander, O. niloticus and Tilapia sp. Space visualization of individuals based on the combination of 12 metric parameters using principal components analyses shown differences between species. Phylogenetic positions based on molecular sequences applying Bayesian Interference and Neighbour Joining evaluated positions of new species within the clusters of Gyrodactylus species of African cichlids. |
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