Systematic Parasitology最新文献

A nematode diversity survey in Mizoram, India led to the recovery of a known species of the order Mononchida (Animalia: Nematoda). Upon investigation, the species was identified as Iotonchulus longicaudatus (Mononchida: Iotonchidae) based on morphology and morphometrics. Iotonchulus longicaudatus can be characterized by its robust body, tubular buccal cavity with dorsal tooth positioned at midway of buccal length, non-denticulate subventral buccal wall, tuberculated pharyngo-intestinal junction, mono-prodelphic female genital system, filiform tail with well-developed caudal glands and spinneret. Molecular data including the 18S and D2-D3 expansion segment of 28S rDNA sequences were generated for the first time for this species and were further utilized to determine its phylogenetic relationship with other mononchs.

The identity of Ixodes (Afrixodes) ugandanus Neumann, 1906 (Acari: Ixodidae) is established and its male and female are redescribed based on specimens collected on rodents (Rodentia: Muridae, Thryonomyidae) in Ethiopia and Uganda. Lectotype of I. ugandanus is designated here. Ixodes (Afrixodes) ampullaceus Warburton, 1933 is reestablished as a valid species and its female is redescribed based on specimens collected on rodents (Rodentia: Thryonomyidae), carnivorans (Carnivora: Viverridae) and a bird (Galliformes: Numididae) in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Ixodes mossambicensis Santos Dias, 1952 is synonymized with I. ampullaceus. Male and female of Ixodes (Afrixodes) aulacodi Arthur, 1956 are redescribed in greater detail based on specimens collected on rodents (Rodentia: Thryonomyidae) in Benin, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. All available literature data on these taxa are critically analyzed and discussed. We sequenced the mitochondrial genome of I. aulacodi, compared it to other Ixodes Latreille, 1795 species, and according to our phylogeny from 10 protein-coding mitochondrial genes of 33 Ixodes species, I. aulacodi forms a clade with the only other Afrixodes Morel, 1966 having a sequenced complete mitochondrial genome, Ixodes rubicundus Neumann, 1904.

Subulura (Murisubulura) andersoni (Cobbold, 1876) is one of 20 species of the genus Subulura known from mammals and one of four species known from murid rodents across South Africa, India, southeast Asia, Japan, New Guinea and Australia. On re-evaluation of all the relevant literature and examination of specimens of S. (M.) andersoni and S. (M.) ortleppi Inglis, 1960, the following taxonomic decisions were made. Subulura (M.) ortleppi, S. (M.) sipirocki Purwanginsih, 2003 and S. (M.) suzukii Yagi & Kamiya, 1981 were placed as synonyms of S. (M.) andersoni based on morphological and morphometric evidence. Subulura hindi Mirza, 1936 was confirmed as a valid species and Latibuccana funambulenis Patwardhan, 1935 declared a species inquirendum. The type locality of S. (M.) andersoni was confirmed as northern India not Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Prevalence and locality data suggested that the focus of infection of S. (M.) andersoni was in the murine Bunomys chrysocomus (Hoffman) from Sulawesi, Indonesia with the geographic range extending to South Africa in the west and Australia in the east.

The integration of molecular data with morphological analysis has greatly advanced the understanding of parasitic diversity, particularly within groups like Dactylogyridae. While morphological features have long been used to classify genera and species, molecular studies have often revealed discrepancies that challenge traditional taxonomies. Urocleidoides (Mizelle & Price, 1964) is one such example, with previous research suggesting it may not be monophyletic. Meanwhile, Annulotrematoides (Kritsky & Boeger, 1995) has lacked any molecular data until now, limiting our understanding of its evolutionary relationships. In this study, we provide the first molecular sequences for Annulotrematoides, which were grouped with Urocleidoides spp. Our analysis of Annulotrematoides bonaerensis Rossin & Timi, 2016 and Urocleidoides surianoae Rossin & Timi, 2016 found parasitizing the gills of Cyphocharax modestus (Fernández-Yépez) revealed a strong phylogenetic relationship between these two species, despite their classification in different genera. This discovery challenges the current morphological-based taxonomy of Urocleidoides and suggests that U. surianoae may not be accurately placed within its genus. The clustering of Urocleidoides with Annulotrematoides for the first time highlights the need for a taxonomic re-evaluation of these groups. Additionally, this work underscores the importance of molecular data in resolving evolutionary relationships and advancing our understanding of parasitic diversity.

Ixodes (Ixodes) zacateco n. sp. (Acari: Ixodidae) is described based on females ex the Mexican spiny pocket mouse, Heteromys irroratus Gray (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) from Mexico. Females of this new species are different from all other species of the subgenus Ixodes Latreille, 1795 from the Americas by the development of lateral carinae and punctations on scutum, length of alloscutal setae, shape and size of auriculae, development and size of spurs on coxae and lack of syncoxae.

A new kathlaniid nematode, Falcaustra peruensis n. sp., was described using light and scanning electron microscopy, based on specimens collected from the intestine of the Titicaca water frog, Telmatobius culeus (Garman) (Anura: Telmatobiidae) in Peru. Falcaustra peruensis n. sp. belongs to the Falcaustra group that is characterized by the presence of a pseudosucker. The new species can be easily differentiated from other congeneric species, with the exception of four species, by its papillae pattern. This pattern includes 6 precloacal papillae, 4 adcloacal papillae, 12 postcloacal papillae, plus 1 median papilla. The new species shares similarities with Falcaustra peruensis n. sp. by having the same papillae pattern (6-4-12 + 1) and a pseudosucker, but can be differentiated from F. sanjuanensis by the morphology of the gubernaculum (triangular with a pair of proximal and distal processes in the new species vs triangular without processes in F. sanjuanensis), the proportion of gubernaculum length relative to total body length (1.2-1.24% in the new species vs 1.56-1.71% in F. sanjuanensis), the morphology of the deirids (button-shaped surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped border in the new species vs elongated surrounded by a circular border in F. sanjuanensis) and body size (males 6.14-7.62 mm and females 4.1-6.8 mm in the new species vs males 11.2-13.5 mm and females 10.1-15.5 mm in F. sanjuanensis). Falcaustra peruensis n. sp. represents the fourth nominal species of the genus in Peru and the fourteenth species described in the Neotropical region.

Adult flukes of the genus Orchidasma were collected from the intestinal tracts of loggerhead Caretta caretta and Kemp's ridley Lepidochelys kempii sea turtles as part of diagnostic investigations into sea turtle strandings. Two morphologically distinct species were present: one represented the type-species Orchidasma amphiorchis and an undescribed species. Orchidasma amphiorchis is redescribed and Orchidasma orchilobata n. sp. is described based on morphological, molecular and phylogenetic analyses. Oxford Nanopore Technology and Illumina sequencing were used to generate complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear ribosomal operons for both species. Sanger sequencing from additional hologenophore specimens for both species were used to assess interspecific and intraspecific variability. Single locus phylogenetic analyses of aligned partial 28S rRNA gene sequences and concatenation of mitochondrial genes of the two species and other trematodes were performed to assess the taxonomic affinity of Orchidasma. Analysis of partial 28S rRNA gene sequences placed O. amphiorchis and O. orchilobata n. sp. as members of the Monorchioidea and closest to Skrjabinopsolus nudidorsalis, a member of Deropristidae. This disagreed with previous inclusion of Orchidasma as a member of Telorchiidae within Plagiorchioidea. Whole mitochondrial genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis resulted in similar topology, suggesting a revision to include Orchidasma as a member of Deropristidae supported by shared morphological characters and nucleotide sequence data with deropristid congeners.

Adults of Corynosoma evae Zdzitowiecki, 1984 were described from the leopard seal Hydrurga leptonyx (Blainville) in South Shetlands, South Georgia, and Falkland Islands and juveniles from the Antarctic dragonfish Parachaenichthys georgianus (Fischer) were also reported. We describe excysted juveniles of a morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species, Corynosoma paraevae n. sp. from the body cavity of Notothenia coriiceps Richardson collected off Galindez Island, Argentine Islands, West Antarctica. Our juveniles were generally smaller than those of adults of C. evae but most other measurements were comparable. We compared our morphometric description of C. paraevae n. sp. juveniles from N. coriiceps with the one available for C. evae adults collected from H. leptonyx and the juveniles redescribed from three other species of Antarctic notothenioid fish. We have included optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of internal and external structures, respectively. Various cuts of proboscis hooks and roots studied by Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA) revealed the highest levels of calcium, phosphorous, and sulfur reaching 50.55%, 20.30%, and 4.15%, respectively. This pattern is compared with those of cystacanths of 6 other species of acanthocephalans. Our molecular description of the new cryptic species involved the 18S subunit of ribosomal DNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) from mitochondrial DNA. The cox1 tree showed that the four isolates of the new species and two of C. evae from the same collection form separate clades that confirmed C. paraevae n. sp. as different species. The cox1 interspecific relationship inferred with 14 sequences revealed 08 groupings alienated from each other.

Phytodietus (Weisia) clavotibialis Shimizu & Konishi, 2018 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Tryphoninae: Phytodietini) is a rare and poorly known Darwin wasp, previously known only from the female holotype collected in Japan. In this study, the male is described for the first time based on two specimens. One of these was reared from a tortricid leaf-roller moth feeding on Rhododendron reticulatum D. Don ex G. Don, marking the first host record for both the species and the subgenus Weisia Schmiedeknecht from Tortricidae. New distribution records from India and Taiwan extend the known range of P. (W.) clavotibialis and reveal a biogeographic pattern resembling that of its closest relative, P. (W.) pitambari Kaur & Jonathan, 1979. Partial sequences of mitochondrial CO1 and nuclear 28S rDNA genes were newly obtained, representing the first molecular data for Weisia, and were used in a preliminary phylogenetic analysis. Although the subgenus Euctenopus Ashmead was not included in our analysis, the molecular phylogeny recovered Weisia as the most basal lineage within the genus Phytodietus Gravenhorst, supporting its recognition as a distinct subgenus, while the monophyly of the subgenera Phytodietus and Neuchorus Uchida was not supported. Given the longstanding confusion and our results, it is concluded that these subgenera are best treated as a single subgenus; thus, Neuchorus syn. nov., together with its previously recognized synonym Doratistes Seyrig, is synonymized under Phytodietus. Additionally, P. (W.) clavotibialis appears to be associated with secondary natural environments characteristic of Satoyama landscapes, raising conservation concerns due to ongoing habitat degradation.

The water snow flat Tagiades litigiosa Möschler (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), widely distributed across tropical regions, has been the subject of limited studies on its natural enemies. Here, we report the first recorded instance of pupal parasitoids Tagiades litigiosa from South India. A newly discovered species, Brachymeria tagiades sp. nov. is described and illustrated as a pupal parasitoid of this butterfly. Additionally, we record B. bengalensis (Cameron, 1897) and B. euploeae (Westwood, 1837) (Brachymeriinae) and Tainaniella malabarica Narendran, 1989 (Haltichellinae) emerging from T. litigiosa pupae in the same region. An unidentified braconid parasitoid was also observed attacking the larvae of T. litigiosa. Furthermore, the genus Tainaniella Masi is reviewed, with detailed illustrations and redescriptions based on fresh specimen of T. malabarica and type images from various repositories.