Publication details
A PHYLOGENETIC PERSPECTIVE ON SPECIES DIVERSITY: CICHLIDOGYRUS (DACTYLOGYRIDAE) PARASITIZING LAKE TANGANYIKA CICHLID TRIBES
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Lake Tanganyika, the deepest and oldest lake in Africa, harbors the most genetically, morphologically and ecologically diverse cichlid assemblages of the African Great Lakes. Its mostly endemic cichlids are considered as model to study adaptive radiation and rapid diversification. Because of the apparently high host specificity of gill monogeneans, there is an increasing interest to use phylogenetic analysis based on the molecular data of these parasites in order to study their host’s diversity, evolution and host-parasite interactions. Based on our knowledge on freshwater fish monogeneans, we can confirm that the Lake Tanganyika cichlid fish harbor more parasites than cichlid species as suggested in the past. Currently, African cichlids can host five different genera of dactylogyrideans, Cichlidogyrus being the most diverse with more than 95 species recorded from more than 70 cichlid hosts. Members of Cichlidogyrus are gill ectoparasites. Species of Cichlidogyrus are identified morphologically by studying the sclerotized structures of haptor and male copulatory organ in addition with molecular data. The goal of this study is to investigate the phylogenetic affinities between the Cichlidogyrus fauna of different Tanganyika cichlid tribes employing different molecular markers (28S rDNA, 18S rDNA, ITS-1 and COX1). Monogenean species are described from Cyprichromis microlepidotus and Eretmodus marksmithi, the first representatives of cyprichromine and eretmodine hosts to be studied for monogeneans. Based on preliminary results, we suggest that phylogenetic relationships among Cichlidogyrus parasitizing the different Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribes may help us to elucidate the historic and ecological associations between cichlid tribes and to determine the origin of these Lake Tanganyika cichlid monogeneans |