The genetic and morphological diversity of Haemogregarina infecting turtles in Colombia: Are mitochondrial markers useful as barcodes for these parasites?

Molecular Phylogenies of Leeches and Haemoparasites Infecting Freshwater Turtles in Aquatic Ecosystems of Northern Africa Suggest Phylogenetic Congruence between Placobdella costata Sensu Lato and Haemogregarina stepanowi Sensu Lato

“…Based on our phylogenetic tree, H. stepanowi sensu lato was phylogenetically split into five independent lineages in the Southern Mediterranean basin: Haploclades 2, 3, and 5 being restricted to Tunisia, Haploclade 1 to Tunisia and Algeria, and Haploclade 4 to Morocco. From the same mitochondrial marker, three independent lineages within the host P. vogli of South America were also reported [ 17 ]. Surprisingly, a fourth molecular lineage infecting the Rio Magdalena River turtle Podocnemis lewyana Duméril was found nested within that complex of haploclades [ 17 ], thus suggesting the occurrence of at least four undescribed species infecting two distinct host species (see Figure 3 ).…”

“…From the same mitochondrial marker, three independent lineages within the host P. vogli of South America were also reported [ 17 ]. Surprisingly, a fourth molecular lineage infecting the Rio Magdalena River turtle Podocnemis lewyana Duméril was found nested within that complex of haploclades [ 17 ], thus suggesting the occurrence of at least four undescribed species infecting two distinct host species (see Figure 3 ). While levels of COI genetic variations clearly indicate the occurrence of several haemogregarine species within the same host species in sympatry, even in syntopy, which is illustrated by numerous cases of coinfections, it is still extremely difficult to link a particular molecular lineage to a specific morphological species, as also reported in [ 17 ].…”

“…Surprisingly, a fourth molecular lineage infecting the Rio Magdalena River turtle Podocnemis lewyana Duméril was found nested within that complex of haploclades [ 17 ], thus suggesting the occurrence of at least four undescribed species infecting two distinct host species (see Figure 3 ). While levels of COI genetic variations clearly indicate the occurrence of several haemogregarine species within the same host species in sympatry, even in syntopy, which is illustrated by numerous cases of coinfections, it is still extremely difficult to link a particular molecular lineage to a specific morphological species, as also reported in [ 17 ]. While the first molecular investigations on Haemogregarina have shown from nuclear markers that H. stepanowi possesses a wide distribution though Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East to Iran with a very low host-specificity [ 12 ], the most recent advents in molecular systematics of H. stepanowi have shown that this species could be actually split into a great number of distinct cryptic haemogregarine species [ 15 , 19 , 52 , 53 ], infecting E. orbicularis and M. leprosa on the one hand and additional hosts such as M. rivulata and the invasive turtle species Trachemys scripta (Thunberg) [ 19 ] on the other.…”

“…Due to the low host specificity of H. stepanowi against its intermediate host on the one hand [ 12 , 13 , 14 ] and the high diversity of Haemogregarina spp. in certain turtle species on the other [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], the host specificity of Haemogregarina could act against leeches—namely Placobdella as the definitive host—as claimed earlier by Attia El Hili et al [ 16 ].…”

“…Nine distinct COI haplotypes were revealed corresponding to three molecular lineages, each corresponding to a distinct Haemogregarina species, as previously advocated from an analysis of nuclear markers [ 15 ]. A similarly high Haemogregarina genetic diversity has since been evidenced from mitochondrial markers within the Savanna side-necked turtle Podocnemis vogli Müller [ 17 ], as well as from nuclear markers within the yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle Podocnemis unifilis Troschel [ 18 ] and E. orbicularis [ 19 ]. Due to the low host specificity of H. stepanowi against its intermediate host on the one hand [ 12 , 13 , 14 ] and the high diversity of Haemogregarina spp.…”