Congeneric monogeneans in evolutionary and ecological studies
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Dactylogyrus are gill monogeneans infecting mainly cyprinid species. Dactylogyrus exhibit high species diversity with more than 960 nominal species described. A high species diversity is also reported at the level of host species suggesting that Dactylogyrus species are able to coexist on one host species. Dactylogyrus are aggregated at the level of hosts and microhabitats. They occupy the different microhabitat positions determining the specific niches. The coexistence of Dactylogyrus species on one host species is facilitated by high intraspecific aggregation, morphological adaptation (haptor morphology), microhabitat segregation and reproductive isolation among species. Many Dactylogyrus species are host specific with the different levels of specificity ranging from strict host specificity through congeneric host specificity until phylogenetic host specificity. Due to host-parasite coevolution, host specific parasites may be considered as a possible tool to elucidate at least partially the historical biogeography of hosts, or alternatively to shed a light on the more recent contacts among host species. Especially Dactylogyrus parasitizing cyprinids as primarily freshwater fish may help to clarify some questions related to biogeographical distribution of these fish with limited capacity of dispersion. Concerning the cyprinids of Mediterranean area, three main hypotheses of their historical dispersion may explain their actual distribution. All suggest that the cyprinids originated in Asia and reached the Mediterranean peninsulas via (1) a northern route, (2) a southern route via landbridges connecting continents, or (3) a southern dispersion through the Mediterranean Sea during its so-called Lago Mare freshwater phase. Dactylogyrus species were used to infer potential historical contacts between Northwest African and Iberian cyprinid species and the origin of Dactylogyrus parasitizing these cyprinid species was investigated. The phylogenetic positions of Dactylogyrus of Carasobarbus (Torini lineage) and Luciobarbus (Barbini lineage) from Northwest Africa and Dactylogyrus of Luciobarbus from Spain were investigated. Even if molecular phylogenetic studies of cyprinids widely support the southern route of Iberian Luciobarbus dispersion, phylogenetic reconstruction of Dactylogyrus evolution indicates the northern route of Dactylogyrus dispersion to Northwest African Luciobarbus species. The multiple historical contacts between Iberian Luciobarbus and two lineages of Northwest African cyprinids (Torini and Barbini) with different origins and historical dispersions was shown resulting in two independent diversifications of Dactylogyrus in Iberian Luciobarbus. |
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