Heterophyid trematodes (Digenea) from penguins: A new species of Ascocotyle Looss, 1899, first description of metacercaria of Ascocotyle (A.) patagoniensis Hernández-Orts, Montero, Crespo, García, Raga and Aznar, 2012, and first molecular data

Abstract

Two species of heterophyid trematodes were found in the Magellanic penguin, Spheniscus magellanicus (Forster), from Patagonia, Argentina. Ascocotyle (Ascocotyle) patagoniensis Hernández-Orts et al. (2012) is re-described based on new, properly fixed specimens (original material from South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens Shaw, was from frozen hosts). Metacercariae of this species are reported and described for the first time from the heart of the silversides, Odontesthes argentinensis (Valenciennes) and O. smitti (Lahille), from Patagonia. Ascocotyle (Phagicola) cameliae n. sp. is described from the intestine of S. magellanicus. The new species is placed into the subgenus Phagicola Faust, 1920 because of the presence of a single row of circumoral spines and uterine loops and vitelline follicles being confined posterior to the ventral sucker. However, it differs distinctly from other members of this subgenus by the number (19–24) and length (23–31 μm) of massive circumoral spines and by the morphology of the ventrogenital sac with a large, simple gonotyl devoid of refractile bodies. Molecular data (partial 28S rDNA sequences) for both species are also provided. Matching sequences from metacercarial and adult stages helped elucidate partially the life-cycle of A. (A.) patagoniensis. The interspecific relationships and phylogenetic position of Ascocotyle were further assessed on a broad phylogeny on the Opisthorchioidea Looss, 1899. Ascocotyle (P.) ornamentata Shalaby, Esposito, Riegler & Carratù (1993) described from decomposed worms (all circumoral spines were detached) found in a dog in Egypt, with no type-specimens of this species deposited in a repository collection, is considered to be species inquirenda.

High parasite diversity in a neglected host: larval trematodes ofBithynia tentaculatain Central Europe

“…Apophallus zalophi Price, 1932 (Heterophyidae) was used as the outgroup based on the topologies in the phylogenetic tree of the Opisthorchioidea published by Hernández-Orts et al . (2019). In phylogenetic analyses of the Opisthorchiidae (fig.…”

“…(2017) and Hernández-Orts et al . (2019). Phylogenetic trees for each dataset were constructed with Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) analyses on the CIPRES portal (Miller et al ., 2010) and the ATGC bioinformatics platform, respectively.…”

The first new species of European Ascocotyle Looss, 1899 (Digenea: Heterophyidae) described in more than half a century

“… Species a Distribution b N° spines Reference Species with a single complete circle of circumoral spines A. ascolonga Witenberg, 1929 Egypt*, Israel 16 Witenberg (1929) , Scholz (1999a) A. cameliae Hernández-Orts, Georgieva, Landete et Scholz, 2019 Argentina* 19–24 Hernández-Orts et al (2019) A. bulbosa Ukoli, 1968 Ghana* 16 Ukoli (1968) A. inglei Hutton and Sogandares-Bernal, 1959 Egypt* 19 Hutton and Sogandares-Bernal (1958), Scholz (1999a) A. italica Alessandrini, 1906 Italy* 18 Ransom (1920) , Travassos (1930) A. longa Ransom, 1920 c North*, Central & South America, Europe, North Africa, Middle East 16 Ransom (1920) , Scholz (1999a) A. macrostoma ( Robinson, 1956 ) Mexico, USA* 18 Robinson (1956) , Scholz et al (1997a) A. micracantha Coil et Kuntz, 1960 Turkey* 20 Coil and Kuntz (1960) A. minuta ( …”

“…serve as a basis for species identification ( Burton, 1958 ; Scholz et al, 1997a , b ). Several subgenera of Ascocotyle have been proposed, but their validity, circumscription and phylogenetic relationships remain unclear, partly because molecular data are available for only a few species ( Hernández-Orts et al, 2019 ; Santos and Borges, 2020 ).…”

Current Knowledge of Small Flukes (Digenea: Heterophyidae) from South America

“…Caiguiria Nasir & Diaz, 1971). Several authors continued using the subgenera of Ascocotyle [ 16 – 18 ]. The WoRMS database [ 19 ] followed Pearson’s taxonomy [ 15 ] and authors tend to avoid using subgenera for the stability of the taxa.…”