Morphological and Molecular Taxonomy of a New Species of Fundulotrema and Comments on Gyrodactylus stephanus (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) from Fundulus heteroclitus (Actinopterygii: Cyprinodontiformes) in Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract

Fundulotrema porterensis n. sp. (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) is described from the mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus (L.; Cyprinodontidae), inhabiting Porters Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada. The new parasite species is characterized by having a ventral bar with small anterolateral processes and linguiform membrane, differentiating it from all other known species of Fundulotrema. The morphological description of F. porterensis is supplemented with 1011 sequenced base pairs (bp) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) spanning both internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) and 5.8S regions of the genome. A BLAST (basic local alignment search tool) search revealed that the 5.8S (157 bp) region varied by 1 bp from Gyrodactylus turnbulli Harris, 1986 and G. pictae Cable, Oosterhout, Barson and Harris, 2005, which also infect cyprinodontids. Morphometrically, F. porterensis most closely resembles Fundulotremafoxi (Rawson, 1973), but the 2 species are easily separated by length of hamuli (50.7 vs. 42.2 microm, respectively), length of anterolateral process of the ventral bar (4.9 vs. 8.9 microm), shape of marginal hooks, and shape of the ventral bar membrane. A morphological and molecular supplemental diagnosis of Gyrodactylus stephanus Mueller, 1937, from the mummichog, is also presented. This new material provides previously unrecorded information on the attributes of the ventral bar, marginal hooks, and also clarifies the structure of the male copulatory organ (MCO).

Parasites of the Carolina Bay Lake-EndemicFundulus waccamensis(Waccamaw Killifish)

“…All of the taxa we documented on Waccamaw Killifish, except the unidentified digenean, had previously been reported from Banded Killifish (Harris and Vogelbein 2006, Hoffman 1999, King 2009, King and Cone 2009, Wiles 1975, thus supporting the probable shared evolutionary history of these 2 host species. Interestingly, the host record for Fundulotrema porterensis is the first report of this gyrodactylid species outside of 2 adjacent lakes in Nova Scotia (King and Cone 2009), and our observation suggests a wider distribution for this species than has been demonstrated. One of our research objectives was aimed at investigating if any undescribed species of gyrodactylid infected Waccamaw Killifish.…”

“…(12%), and unionid glochidia (17%) require further morphological and DNA-sequence data to identify to species. King and Cone (2009). Reported hosts known from Lake Waccamaw reported in B Shute et al (1981), C Dillon et al (2013), and D Cahoon (2005).…”

“…Banded Killifish, the allopatric progenitor of Waccamaw Killifish, also has a rich parasite fauna representing at least 3 protozoan and 60 metazoan parasite species (Harris and Vogelbein 2006). King (2009) extended the host records for both Mummichog and Banded Killifish to include 2 additional gyrodactylids from the Canadian range: Fundulotrema foxi (Rawson) (see King 2009) and the new species Fundulotrema porterensis King & Cone (see King and Cone 2009). Reported taxa of metazoan parasites from Fundulus spp.…”

A monogenean fish parasite, Gyrodactylus chileani n. sp., belonging to a novel marine species lineage found in the South-Eastern Pacific and the Mediterranean and North Seas

“…Gyrodactylus arcuatus Bychowsky, 1933 has been confirmed on three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus L. from Puget Sound (USA), Iceland, the Mediterranean and Black Seas, the Sea of Japan, Belgium (Cable et al, 1999; Ziętara et al, 2000), Finland (Ziętara et al, 2002, 2008), Norway (Ziętara et al, 2008; Hansen et al, 2012), Poland (Ziętara et al, 2000), Russian Karelia (Ziętara et al, 2008), Sweden (Ziętara et al, 2000; Huyse et al, 2003) and the UK (Cable et al, 1999; Ziętara et al, 2000). Its very close relatives include Gyrodactylus nipponensis Ogawa & Egusa, 1978 from Japan (Hayward et al, 2001) and G. stephanus Mueller, 1937 from the NW Atlantic (King & Cone, 2009) on other host fishes. On three-spined sticklebacks, G. alexanderi Mizelle & Kritsky, 1967 has also been confirmed using molecular data in both Atlantic (Hansen et al, 2012) and Pacific populations (Rokicka et al, 2009), but G .…”

Parasites of Freshwater Fishes In North America: Why So Neglected?

“…Diclybothriid monogeneans of sturgeons and paddlefish were revised by Choudhury and Dick (1996a). More recently, King and Cone (2009) updated the systematics of Fundulotrema and Gilmore et al (2012) published a molecular phylogeny of Gyrodactylus.…”