scholarly journals Using DNA barcoding to identify host-parasite interactions between cryptic species of goby (Coryphopterus: Gobiidae, Perciformes) and parasitic copepods (Pharodes tortugensis: Chondracanthidae, Cyclopoida)

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5048 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-117
Author(s):  
GRAHAM E. FORRESTER ◽  
MALACHY T. MCCAFFREY ◽  
KRISTINA X. TERPIS ◽  
CHRISTOPHER E. LANE

Previous work, using morphological characters, identified a generalist copepod parasite (Pharodes tortugensis) at high prevalence on two common gobies (Coryphopterus glaucofraenum and C. dicrus) in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). DNA barcoding subsequently revealed C. glaucofraenum to be three morphologically similar species (C. glaucofraenum, C. venezuelae and C. tortugae), casting doubt on host identities in the BVI and the classification of the parasite as a single species. Mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) data from 67 gobies in the BVI showed that, in addition to C. dicrus, host gobies were a mix of C. glaucofraenum and C. venezuelae, while C. tortugae was unexpectedly absent from the study area. COI data (n = 70) indicated that the copepod infecting all three hosts was a single species, almost certainly P. tortugensis. The pharodes-coryphopterus interaction has a strong impact on host dynamics in the BVI, and a revised understanding of these dynamics must account for any differences among the three newly confirmed hosts in transmission of, and susceptibility to, the shared parasite. No other infected hosts were discovered at our sites, but P. tortugensis is reportedly widespread and infects 12 additional host species elsewhere. Further DNA barcoding is thus needed to test whether P. tortugensis is truly a widespread generalist, or instead represents a group of more specialized cryptic species.  

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 669
Author(s):  
Joan Milam ◽  
Dennis E. Johnson ◽  
Jeremy C. Andersen ◽  
Aliza B. Fassler ◽  
Desiree L. Narango ◽  
...  

Despite their large size and striking markings, the identification of bumble bees (Bombus spp.) is surprisingly difficult. This is particularly true for three North American sympatric species in the subgenus Pyrobombus that are often misidentified: B. sandersoni Franklin, B. vagans Smith B. perplexus Cresson. Traditionally, the identification of these cryptic species was based on observations of differences in hair coloration and pattern and qualitative comparisons of morphological characters including malar length. Unfortunately, these characteristics do not reliably separate these species. We present quantitative morphometric methods to separate these species based on the malar length to width ratio (MRL) and the ratios of the malar length to flagellar segments 1 (MR1) and 3 (MR3) for queens and workers, and validated our determinations based on DNA barcoding. All three measurements discriminated queens of B. sandersoni and B. vagans with 100% accuracy. For workers, we achieved 99% accuracy by combining both MR1 and MR3 measurements, and 100% accuracy differentiating workers using MRL. Moreover, measurements were highly repeatable within and among both experienced and inexperienced observers. Our results, validated by genetic evidence, demonstrate that malar measurements provide accurate identifications of B. vagans and B. sandersoni. There was considerable overlap in the measurements between B. perplexus and B. sandersoni. However, these species can usually be reliably separated by combining malar ratio measurements with other morphological features like hair color. The ability to identify bumble bees is key to monitoring the status and trends of their populations, and the methods we present here advance these efforts.


Parasitology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 147 (13) ◽  
pp. 1499-1508
Author(s):  
Susanne Reier ◽  
Helmut Sattmann ◽  
Thomas Schwaha ◽  
Hans-Peter Fuehrer ◽  
Elisabeth Haring

AbstractAcanthocephalans are obligate parasites of vertebrates, mostly of fish. There is limited knowledge about the diversity of fish-parasitizing Acanthocephala in Austria. Seven determined species and an undetermined species are recorded for Austrian waters. Morphological identification of acanthocephalans remains challenging due to their sparse morphological characters and their high intraspecific variations. DNA barcoding is an effective tool for taxonomic assignment at the species level. In this study, we provide new DNA barcoding data for three genera of Acanthocephala (Pomphorhynchus Monticelli, 1905, Echinorhynchus Zoega in Müller, 1776 and Acanthocephalus Koelreuter, 1771) obtained from different fish species in Austria and provide an important contribution to acanthocephalan taxonomy and distribution in Austrian fish. Nevertheless, the taxonomic assignment of one species must remain open. We found indications for cryptic species within Echinorhynchus cinctulus Porta, 1905. Our study underlines the difficulties in processing reliable DNA barcodes and highlights the importance of the establishment of such DNA barcodes to overcome these. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to collect and compare material across Europe allowing a comprehensive revision of the phylum in Europe.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5052 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
PETR G. GARIBIAN ◽  
LA-ORSRI SANOAMUANG ◽  
ALEXEY A. KOTOV

It is widely accepted among the Cladocera (Crustacea) taxonomists that almost all “cosmopolitan” taxa are represented by some un-revised complexes of cryptic species. But many macro taxa of the cladocerans are still unrevised. The aim of this work is to analyze the taxonomic status of Oriental populations of the genus Bosminopsis Richard, 1895 (Anomopoda: Bosminidae) based on morphological characters. We have studied populations from India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea and concluded that Oriental populations belong to a single species, Bosminopsis africanus (Daday, 1908), initially described from Africa. Analysis of literature data confirms that is widely distributed through whole Oriental zone. A single large mucro, or the mucro accompanied by an additional small spine in both sexes, is the main trait which differentiates B. africanus from B. zernowi Linko, 1901 distributed in more northern regions of Eurasia.  


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4232 (4) ◽  
pp. 568 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREA JARZABEK-MÜLLER ◽  
JÉRÔME MORINIÈRE ◽  
HASSAN BARIMANI VARANDI ◽  
JÖRG MÜLLER

Synaptus filiformis Fabricius, 1781 has been recognized as a rather variable elaterid species. Based on morphological distinctness of 3 specimens (2 males, 1 female) from Mazandaran, Iran, a new species is here hypothesised. COI barcoding supports the new species as a new Barcode Index Number with a distance of mean 13.5% to the three other BINs available on the Barcode of Life Database. The new species Synaptus iranicus sp. nov. (BOLD: ACZ9929) and its distinctive features are described. Moreover the results of the DNA barcoding suggest that Synaptus filiformis as yet described is not a single species, but rather a complex of several morphologically similar species. 


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4455 (1) ◽  
pp. 161 ◽  
Author(s):  
QING ZHAO ◽  
JIUFENG WEI ◽  
WENJUN BU ◽  
GUOQING LIU ◽  
HUFANG ZHANG

Arma custos and A. chinensis have a very conspicuous difference in the shape of the pronotal humeral angle, but the genitalic morphological characters are ambiguous and difficult to recognize. The aim of this study was to analyze the taxonomic status of A. chinensis and A. custos based on morphological, molecular, and geographical evidence, and to determine whether DNA barcoding could be a useful additional tool for differentiating similar species. The results clearly demonstrate that A. custos and A. chinensis have not diverged into separate species. So, the following new synonym is proposed: Arma chinensis Fallou, 1881 = Arma custos (Fabricius, 1794) syn. nov.. The results also showed that DNA barcoding using the marker COI can resolve insect taxonomic problems.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2867 (1) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUN-CHIH LIAO ◽  
TUN-YUAN CHENG ◽  
KWANG-TSAO SHAO

Parapercis lutevittata sp. nov., a new cryptic species closely related to Parapercis sexfasciata (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843), is described from the western Pacific Ocean off Japan and Taiwan based on morphological and molecular evidences. It differs from congeners by having four to five large V-shaped transverse dark-brown bands over the upper side of the body, dorsal fin between the spinous and soft-rayed portions without a prominent notch, a large dark-brown blotch on the pectoral fin base, a large black spot over the caudal fin base, and a dark vertical band below the eye. The new species differs from its sympatric species P. sexfasciata in having an additional numerous small black dots on the base of the pectoral fin (versus with only a single large dark blotch in P. sexfasciata), small black dots scattered on area between the Vshaped transverse bands, absence of black spots on the base of the dorsal fin ray membrane, and one longitudinal yellow stripe on body sides when in fresh. In addition, the 633 base pairs of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO I or COX I) gene in DNA barcoding showed a deep 7.9% genetic divergence between these two similar species. The Neighbor-joining algorithm also revealed that the specimens of these two species are clearly separated.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. I. Monchenko ◽  
L. P. Gaponova ◽  
V. R. Alekseev

Crossbreeding experiments were used to estimate cryptic species in water bodies of Ukraine and Russia because the most useful criterion in species independence is reproductive isolation. The problem of cryptic species in the genus Eucyclops was examined using interpopulation crosses of populations collected from Baltic Sea basin (pond of Strelka river basin) and Black Sea basin (water-reservoires of Dnieper, Dniester and Danube rivers basins). The results of reciprocal crosses in Eucyclops serrulatus-group are shown that E. serrulatus from different populations but from water bodies belonging to the same river basin crossed each others successfully. The interpopulation crosses of E. serrulatus populations collected from different river basins (Dnipro, Danube and Dniester river basins) were sterile. In this group of experiments we assigned evidence of sterility to four categories: 1) incomplete copulation or absence of copulation; 2) nonviable eggs; 3) absence of egg membranes or egg sacs 4) empty egg membranes. These crossbreeding studies suggest the presence of cryptic species in the E. serrulatus inhabiting ecologically different populations in many parts of its range. The same crossbreeding experiments were carries out between Eucyclops serrulatus and morphological similar species – Eucyclops macruroides from Baltic and Black Sea basins. The reciprocal crossings between these two species were sterile. Thus taxonomic heterogeneity among species of genus Eucyclops lower in E. macruroides than in E. serrulatus. The interpopulation crosses of E. macruroides populations collected from distant part of range were fertile. These crossbreeding studies suggest that E. macruroides species complex was evaluated as more stable than E. serrulatus species complex.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 302
Author(s):  
Marek Michalski ◽  
Piotr Gadawski ◽  
Joanna Klemm ◽  
Krzysztof Szpila

The only European Stratiomyidae species known for feeding on human corpses was the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758). Analysis of fauna found on a human corpse, discovered in central Poland, revealed the presence of feeding larvae of another species from this family: the twin-spot centurion fly Sargus bipunctatus (Scopoli, 1763). The investigated corpse was in a stage of advanced decomposition. The larvae were mainly observed in the adipocere formed on the back and lower limbs of the corpse, and in the mixture of litter and lumps of adipocere located under the corpse. Adult specimens and larvae were identified based on morphological characters, and final identification was confirmed using DNA barcoding. Implementing a combination of morphological and molecular methods provided a reliable way for distinguishing the larvae of S. bipunctatus and H. illucens. The potential of S. bipunctatus for practical applications in forensic entomology is currently difficult to assess. Wide and reliable use of S. bipunctatus in the practice of forensic entomology requires further studies of the bionomy of this fly.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 290
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Hosie ◽  
Jane Fromont ◽  
Kylie Munyard ◽  
Diana S. Jones

The subfamily Acastinae contains a diverse group of barnacles that are obligate symbionts of sponges and alcyonacean and antipatharian corals. Integrating morphological and genetic (COI) data to compare against known species, this paper reports on nine species of sponge-inhabiting barnacles of the subfamily Acastinae, including three undescribed species (Acasta caveata sp. nov., Euacasta acutaflava sp. nov., and E. excoriatrix sp. nov.) and three species previously not recorded in Australian waters (A. sandwichi, Pectinoacasta cancellorum, and P. sculpturata). The new species are distinguished from similar species by a suite of morphological characters as well as genetic distances. A lectotype for Pectinoacasta cancellorum is designated. Sponge hosts were identified for all specimens where possible and are represented by 19 species from eight families and five orders.


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