Publication details
Acanthocephalans from amphibians: novel molecular data for Acanthocephalus ranae (Schrank, 1788) (Echinorhynchida: Paracanthocephalidae) parazitising water frogs (Pelophylax spp.) in Slovakia
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Acanthocephalus ranae (Schrank, 1788) is widely distributed acanthocephalan of anurans in Europe and Asia. Adults of this species have also been reported in reptiles, birds and mammals from several European countries, but infections in these hosts may be a result of post-cyclic parasitism. Despite the broad spectrum of hosts and wide geographical distribution of A. ranae, only a partial sequence of the 18S rRNA gene from a cystacanth isolate of this species ex. Asellus aquaticus from France (GenBank LS991433) is publicly available. A large number of A. ranae adults were collected during the survey of parasitic helminths of two water frog species (Pelophylax esculentus and P. ridibundus) at five localities in Slovakia (Gbelce, Rusovce, Šaštín-Stráže, Šulianske jazero and Veľký Lél). Here, we provide the first molecular characterization (18S, 28S rRNA and cox1 genes) associated with detailed morphological identification of adults of this typically amphibian acanthocephalan. In addition, cox1 sequences were used to investigate the haplotype diversity of A. ranae at small geographical scale. The phylogenetic reconstructions for the concatenated three-gene dataset placed with strong support A. ranae as a sister linage to A. lucii. Unexpectedly, our newly-generated cox1 sequences formed a strongly-supported clade with an unpublished sequence from an isolate of an unidentified Acanthocephalus sp. ex. Anguilla anguilla from Austria (GenBank MT682935). Six haplotypes were identified in the 32 cox1 sequences (five shared haplotypes and one singleton), and one haplotype was shared by isolates from Slovakia and Austria. The intraspecific genetic divergence (uncorrected p-distance) observed within the cox1 sequences ranged between 0.00 to 1.04% for A. ranae. Our novel molecular data open new opportunities for future ecological studies on the distribution, host ranges, and genetic structure of this acanthocephalan in Europe. |