Species delimitation based on mtDNA genes suggests the occurrence of new species of Mesocestoides in the Mediterranean region

Abstract

BackgroundThis study is the first contribution to the molecular taxonomy of Mesocestoides spp. from domestic and wild carnivores in the Mediterranean area. A total of 13 adult worms and 13 larval stages of Mesocestoides spp. were collected from domestic and wild carnivore hosts in Italy and Tunisia. Samples collected in the Slovak Republic were used as comparative samples from outside the Mediterranean. The genes cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (nad1) of the mitochondrial genome were used as molecular markers to investigate the presence of cryptic Mesocestoides species in the area analysed.ResultsResults were consistent in showing three well-supported clusters of Mesocestoides spp. in southern Italy and Tunisia, which were strongly divergent from Mesocestoides litteratus, M. corti and M. lineatus. High levels of genetic variation and no evidence of geographical structuring was found between the clusters.ConclusionsConsidering the low dispersal capability of the intermediate hosts of Mesocestoides spp., the lack of geographical structuring among the Mediterranean regions could be due to a high potential for dispersion of the definitive hosts. This study provides a foundation for future formal descriptions of new species of the genus Mesocestoides in the Mediterranean area.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-018-3185-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Rodents as intermediate hosts of cestode parasites of mammalian carnivores and birds of prey in Poland, with the first data on the life-cycle of Mesocestoides melesi

“…Interestingly, all three Mesocestoides sequences derived from adult worms from Eurasian badgers were very similar (Additional file 1: Tables S1-S3) to these four isolates from rodents. In all phylogenetic trees, the four sequences from rodents and all available sequences from badgers formed one phylogenetic group, distant from M. litteratus, other species and a range of recently identified Mesocestoides genotypes from Italy and Tunisia [32,33]. This group of sequences displayed the highest similarity to M. vogae (syn.…”

Massive infection of a song thrush by Mesocestoides sp. (Cestoda) tetrathyridia that genetically match acephalic metacestodes causing lethal peritoneal larval cestodiasis in domesticated mammals

“…3a, b). Recently, Varcasia et al [34] reported a series of findings of larvae of this species from domestic dogs of south Italian, Sicilian and Tunisian origin. In addition to larval isolates, the isolate TUN01 ( cox 1 sequence MH463506), which originated from an intestine of a domestic dog from Tunisia, represented the first and only record of an adult individual that is genetically matched to the individuals examined in the present study.…”

“…The sequences with high similarity (but not complete identity) included cox 1 and nad 1 sequences of another series of domestic dogs and cats from south Italy, Sardinia, Sicily and Tunisia [34]; the nad 1 sequence of an isolate from a domestic dog (Hirzmann et al personal communication) (Fig. 2b); and the 12S rDNA sequence of larvae from domestic dogs (GenBank: MH992719 (unpublished) and KP941431 [43]) (Fig.…”

“…In the present study, we did not observe any sign of asexual reproduction among the morphologically examined tetrathyridia. Recently, Varcasia et al [34] reported numerous genetically matched cases from domestic dogs and cats from Italy and Tunisia but did not provide any details on the infection symptoms except of the localization of infection.…”

“…With regards to studies that employed DNA sequencing, several DNA loci were examined, including 12S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) [10, 12, 24–30], cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 ( cox 1) [10, 24, 25, 28, 30–34], nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 1 ( nad 1) [10, 28, 32, 34], 18S rDNA [29, 32, 35–37], internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) [12, 35] and 28S rDNA [24, 32, 37, 38]. Sequences of Mesocestoides spp.…”