Abstract
The activity of Lipoptena cervi has intensified in Poland in recent years. The population genetics of this ectoparasite in Poland has never been described in the literature. The objectives of this study were to investigate the population genetics of L. cervi in selected regions of Poland, to evaluate molecular differences between L. cervi populations, and to determine phylogenetic relationships with other L. cervi sequences obtained in previous studies. In 2019, louse flies were sampled in natural mixed forests in five Polish voivodeships. Seven samples of L. cervi were collected from each voivodeship, and a total of 35 insects were analyzed molecularly. In the first step, Lipoptena spp. were identified to species level under a stereoscopic microscope. A fragment of the rRNA 16S gene was used as a marker to identify L. cervi by the PCR assay. The sequences were assigned accession numbers MT337409 to MT337416. A total of eight haplotypes were identified, two of which were dominant. In the obtained sequences, intraspecific pairwise genetic distances varied between 0.000 and 0.0496 (m = 0.0135; SD = 0.0149; SE = 0.0006; V = 110.11). Mean interpopulation diversity was d = 0.0135 (SE = 0.0027). The acquired nucleotide sequences were highly similar to the sequences from the Czech Republic (MF495940, AF322437), Lithuania (MN889542-MN889544) and Poland (MF541726–MF541729). The similarity with GenBank sequences ranged from 97.24% to 100%. This study revealed two dominant haplotypes of L. cervi in Poland, MT337410 and MT337413. Fragments of the analyzed sequences were detected in only one voivodeship. These findings suggest that the two dominant sequences are the oldest sequences that gave rise to the locally identified haplotypes. The lack of significant correlations with the sequences obtained in regions situated west of the research sites suggests the presence of other genetic populations in Europe.
Highlights
IntroductionThe high increase in the number of cervids is noteworthy (Zalewski et al 2018)
The population of wild ungulates has been increasing steadily in Poland
It should be noted that the genetic diversity of the L. cervi population in Central Europe suggests the presence of common ancestors and continuous migrations across countries
Summary
The high increase in the number of cervids is noteworthy (Zalewski et al 2018). These phenomena affect the populations of interacting species, especially ectoparasites (Madslien et al, 2012). Deer keds are parasites with a narrow host range, and they are directly associated with cervids (Harkonen et al, 2010). The activity of Lipoptena spp. has intensified in recent years, in forests (Gałęcki et al 2020). The genus Lipoptena spp. belongs to the family Hippoboscidae and consists of 32 species (Dick, 2006). When keds find a definitive host, their wings are broken off at the base, leaving behind a stump (Lloyd, 2009)
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