Phylogeny and Life Cycles of the Archiacanthocephala with a Note on the Validity of Mediorhynchus gallinarum

Abstract

PurposeThe molecular profile of specimens of Mediorhynchus gallinarum (Bhalero, 1937) collected from chickens, Gallus gallus L. in Indonesia was analysed. The aim of this study was to assess the phylogenetic position of species of Mediorhynchus within the order Giganthorhynchida. Methods We used one mitochondrial gene (cytochrome oxidase 1) and one nuclear gene (18S ribosomal RNA) to infer phylogenetic relationships of class Archiacanthocephala. ResultsThe COI and 18S rDNA genes sequences showed that M. gallinarum had low genetic variation and that this species is sister to Mediorhynchus africanus Amin, Evans, Heckmann, El-Naggar, 2013. The phylogenetic relationships of the Class Archiacanthocephala showed that it is not resolved but, however, were mostly congruent using both genes. A review of host-parasite life cycles and geographic distributions of Archiacanthocephala indicates that mainly small mammals and birds are definitive hosts, while termites, cockroaches, and millipedes are intermediate hosts. Conclusions While the intermediate hosts have wide geographic distributions, the narrow distribution of the definitive hosts limit the access of archiacanthocephalans to a wider range of prospective hosts. Additional analyses, to increase taxonomic and character sampling will improve the development of a robust phylogeny and provide more stable classification. The results presented here contribute to better understanding of the ecological and evolutionary relationships that allow the hostparasite co-existence within the class Archiacanthocephala.

Cryptic diversity in a gastrointestinal acanthocephalan of New World primates from Costa Rica

“…The clustering of Prosthenorchis sp. from Russia apart from P. elegans from Colombia 29 was confirmed in our study, as well as the six P. elegans haplotypes previously found in Colombia 18 . Genetic variability in P. elegans may have emerged because of allopatric speciation, since host exploitation does not seem to play a role.…”

“…Furthermore, these processes may be affected by climate and environmental alterations that may result to faunal mosaics 28 . Ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA analyses of worms from the class Archiacanthocephala have found a clear clustering across families 29 . The clustering of Prosthenorchis sp.…”

Morphological and molecular updates of Corynosoma bullosum (Linstow, 1892) Raulliet & Henry, 1907 parasitizing southern elephant seals from the Antarctic Peninsula

“…In the family Polymorphidae, low genetic diversity has been estimated within species of the genera Andracantha, Corynosoma, Pro licollis, and Tenuisoma [7,18,19,20,21,22]. The same is valid for members of Archiacanthocephala class [23,24]. Therefore, this seems to be a consistent pattern within the Acanthocephala group.…”

“…acanthocephalans, not all species are considered valid, according to the sequences available in GenBank[26]. Many of them are from different mitochondrial genes, sometimes preventing comparisons[19,24, 26]. Future studies should focus on adding other mitochondrial and more variable nuclear markers to clarify whether this observed pattern holds for different molecular markers.Our analyses show that phylogenetic relationships among the family Polymorphidae are not fully resolved.…”

New perspectives on morphological and genetic variability of Corynosoma bullosum [Linstow, 1892] parasitizing southern elephant seals from the Antarctic Peninsula

“…PCR conditions for the 18S rDNA gene were amplified following the protocol of Rodríguez et al . (2022). PCR products were analysed on 1.5% agarose gel and visualized with a UV transilluminator.…”