Publication details
Diversity of gill monogeneans in cichlids from Lake Tanganyika: taxonomic and phylogenetic perspectives
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Cichlids (Cichlidae) have attracted the scientific interests of evolutionary biologists and ecologists for many years. Among the 13 monogenean genera infecting cichlids, Cichlidogyrus is the most diverse genus which is restricted to African and Levantine hosts. Lake Tanganyika, the deepest and oldest Lake in Africa, harbours about 250 extraordinary endemic cichlid species subdivided into 50 genera and 14 tribes. To the present, only 31 Cichlidogyrus species were described; the parasite fauna of a significant number of cichlid hosts is still unknown. In 2013 and 2016, a total of 43 Tanganyikan species were collected from the Burundese and Congolese lakeshores, and examined for gill ectoparasites. Morphological and molecular identification of monogeneans were performed, and phylogenetic analyses were carried out by employing different molecular markers (28S rDNA, 18S rDNA and ITS-1). The taxonomic study allowed to identify 37 Cichlidogyrus species. This number include 11 species already known and 14 species that are considered new for science. Our investigation represents the first parasitological examination of representatives belonging to the Tanganyikan cichlid genera Aulonocranus, Callochromis, Cyphotilapia, Cyprichromis, Eretmodus, Tanganicodus, and Xenotilapia. Congolese Aulonocranus dewindti hosted two new Cichlidogyrus species morphologically close to two species that we recently described on the same host in Burundi. Further, we provide a morphological characterization of 7 undescribed Cichlidogyrus species collected from Petrochromis spp. and a single species collected from Tylochromis polylepis. Phylogenetic trees of Cichlidogyrus species reflect the phylogenetic relationships of their cichlid tribes. The composition of parasite communities mirrors the affinities revealed by morphological characters between monogenean species. An evaluation of the phylogenetic relatedness of Tanganyikan cichlid monogeneans in addition to the data on cichlids phylogeny and ecology may help to elucidate the historical, ecological and evolutionary scenarios regarding Tanganyikan cichlids, to clarify the relationships between the tribes, and to determine the origin of Cichlidogyrus in Africa. |