Molecular phylogenetic evidence of a haplosporidian parasite infecting the polychaete Syllis nipponica (Imajima, 1966)

Abstract

A haplosporidian parasite was detected in the polychaete Syllis nipponica via the amplification and sequencing of the 18S rDNA locus. This provides additional evidence of haplosporidians in polychaetes, the host group from which the first species of the phylum were described about a century ago. In phylogenetic analyses, the parasite was determined to place among mollusk-specific taxa. As such, separate taxonomic groups for haplosporidians infecting different host phyla should not be anticipated. These findings also underscore the as-yet unknown life cycles of commercially important parasites. Attempts to visualize spores of the parasite directly with scanning electron microscopy did not succeed.