Dactylogyrus (Monogenea) parasitizing cyprinids from Balkan Peninsula: phylogeny and relationships to central European species
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Species richness of parasitic taxa and their distribution in host species is usually closely related to history, dispersion and diversity of their hosts. The parasites, belonging to genus Dactylogyrus Diesing, 1850 (Monogenea), are known for the high degree of host specificity. Wide species richness of this genus (over 900 nominal species) could be linked to the multitude of their host species which are freshwater fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. Unlike in Central and Northern Europe, where the cyprinid fauna is relatively uniform, Southern European Peninsulas are extremely rich in endemic species and consists of several highly diversified genera. It is hypothesized that the endemic cyprinids harbour endemic Dactylogyrus species. So far, this parasite group is in Balkan Peninsula relatively unexplored. Therefore, we decided to investigate the endemic Balkan Dactylogyrus and their phylogenetic relationships to widely distributed species collected from cyprinids in Central Europe. In years 2014–2017 we sampled 64 cyprinid species from 53 different localities in Balkan Peninsula and Czech Republic. A total of 51 Dactylogyrus species were identified and used for reconstruction of evolutionary history and further molecular analyses. The highest Dactylogyrus species diversity was found in the representatives of Squalius, Barbus, Chondrostoma and Rutilus genera. The phylogenetic reconstruction based on sequence data of partial ribosomal SSU combined with partial LSU revealed 4 strongly supported groups including endemic and widely distributed species. To resolve phylogenetic relationships within the group including the most of Dactylogyrus species we applied highly variable ITS1 region. The second phylogenetic reconstruction divided this group into 4 well or moderately supported clades. The computation of genetic distances performed on specimens of generalist Dactylogyrus, such as D. vistulae, D. rarissimus and D. folkmanovae, revealed high interpopulation variability. The highest genetic distances were observed between specimens of D. folkmanovae collected from 7 Squalius species (p-distance 0.002-0.035). The Mantel test supports that geographically adjacent populations are more similar also at the molecular level. |
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