A monogenean fish parasite, Gyrodactylus chileani n. sp., belonging to a novel marine species lineage found in the South-Eastern Pacific and the Mediterranean and North Seas

Marek S. Ziętara,Gabriela Muñoz,Dar’ya Lebedeva,Jaakko Lumme

doi:10.1007/s11230-012-9379-2

Abstract

Gyrodactylus chileani n. sp. is the first Gyrodactylus species reported from Chile. It is an ectoparasite living on fins and skin of a small fish, the Chilean tidal pond dweller Helcogrammoides chilensis (Cancino) (Perciformes: Tripterygiidae). A phylogenetic analysis based on 5.8S+ITS2 of rDNA placed the new species close to marine Gyrodactylus species found in Europe: G. orecchiae Paladini, Cable, Fioravanti, Faria, Cave & Shinn, 2009 on gilthead seabream Sparus aurata L. from the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Sea fish farms (Perciformes: Sparidae), and an undescribed species on the black goby Gobius niger L. from the North Sea (Perciformes: Gobiidae). A morphological description of the latter species is unavailable. These geographically distant parasite samples on different host families form a new well supported Gyrodactylus orecchiae lineage. Using molecular phylogenetics, it is shown that the marine species groups of Gyrodactylus may have a worldwide distribution.

Highlights

The monogenean flatworm genus Gyrodactylus Nordmann, 1832 is one of the most species-rich genera
A phylogenetic analysis based on 5.8S?ITS2 of rDNA placed the new species close to marine Gyrodactylus species found in Europe: G. orecchiae Paladini, Cable, Fioravanti, Faria, Cave & Shinn, 2009 on gilthead seabream Sparus aurata L. from the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Sea fish farms (Perciformes: Sparidae), and an undescribed species on the black goby Gobius niger L. from the
To enlarge the geographical range of the Gyrodactylus spp., we describe the first Gyrodactylus species from Chile, which was among 215 fish ectoparasitic species listed by Munoz & Olmos (2007)

Summary

Introduction

The monogenean flatworm genus Gyrodactylus Nordmann, 1832 is one of the most species-rich genera. The genera: Acanthoplacatus Ernst, Jones & Whittington, 2001, Diplogyrodactylus Prikrylova, Matejusova, Musilova, Gelnar & Harris, 2009, Fundulotrema Kritsky & Thatcher, 1977, Gyrdicotylus Vercammen-Grandjean, 1960, Gyrodactyloides Bykhovskiy, 1947 and Macrogyrodactylus Malmberg, 1957, subgenera and species groups or single species, are all paraphyletic within the family Gyrodactylidae (see Vanhove et al, 2011). The mechanism resulting in such a phylogeny is the basal radiation of Gyrodactylus (sensu lato) generating new species groups, some marine, some freshwater, and some inhabiting both environments. The latter are perhaps the most interesting, and include examples where the host lineage has moved from marine to freshwater, and the parasite has followed. Together with two other species of Gyrodactylus from Europe, which are related by ITS rDNA, it forms a new marine species group, which has crossed the equator during its evolutionary history

Materials and methods

Findings

Discussion