A new species of Litomosoides (Nematoda: Onchocercidae), parasite of Nectomys palmipes (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) from Venezuela: description, molecular evidence, Wolbachia pipientis screening

Abstract

abstract:The onchocercid filaria Litomosoides taylori sp. n. is described from the sigmodontine cricetid Nectomys palmipes Allen et chapman in northeast Venezuela. A voucher specimen of the new species was used for molecular analysis of the coxI and 12s rDNA genes, and screened for the presence of the endobacterium Wolbachia pipientis. Litomosoides taylori belongs to the "sigmodontis group" of Litomosoides and a combination of characters can be used to distinguish it from the remaining 18 species forming this group. Among the five Nectomys species, all living near running water, N. squamipes also harbours Litomosoides species, L. khonae in Brazil and L. navonae in Argentina. these three Litomosoides species of the "sigmodontis group" do not share any particular characters. gene sequences of L. taylori differ from those of the five Litomosoides species available, the three of the "carinii group" being the most distant. the new species harbours W. pipientis, which is concurrent with the great majority of Litomosoides species screened to date.

New Insights into the Evolution of Wolbachia Infections in Filarial Nematodes Inferred from a Large Range of Screened Species

“…Co-infection of a host specimen by several congeneric or non-congeneric filarial species was rather frequent in large mammals, but in a few cases, the same filarial species was recovered from two host species. The supraspecific levels of taxonomy followed the systematic works of [46] , [73] , [74] and more recent studies for some taxa: [65] , [71] , [75] for the subgeneric divisions of Mansonella Faust, 1929; [54] , [56] for the genus Cercopithifilaria Eberhard, 1980 (created as a subgenus); and [54] for the genus Loxodontofilaria Berghe & Gillain, 1939.…”

First record of Litomosoides pardinasi (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) in native and exotic rodents from Chile

“…They occur in Neotropical and southern Nearctic regions. Most of the Litomosoides species occur in South America, including Venezuela (6 species), Colombia (10 species), Peru (3 species), Bolivia (5 species), Argentina (8 species), Brazil (11 species), and Uruguay (1 species) (Travassos, 1919;Esslinger, 1973;Bain et al, 1980Bain et al, , 1989Brant and Gardner, 1997;Moraes Neto et al, 1997;Notarnicola et al, 2000Notarnicola andNavone, 2002, 2011;Guerrero et al, 2002Guerrero et al, , 2003Guerrero et al, , 2011.…”

Morphological and molecular characterisation of Heliconema hainanensis sp. nov. (Spirurina: Physalopteridae) from congers in the South China Sea, with a key to the species of Heliconema

“…In recent years, morphological features combined with genetic information, such as sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I and II, have been successfully used for the accurate identification of nematodes at the species level for eggs, larvae and adults (Ivanova et al 2007, Koubková et al 2008, Mattiucci et al 2008, Mašová et al 2010, Guerrero et al 2011, Li et al 2012a, b, Testini et al 2011. Consequently, specimens of this new species collected from three different hosts and specimens of Heliconema sp.…”