Morphology and molecular characterization hold hands: clarifying the taxonomy of Hysterothylacium (Nematoda: Anisakidae) larval forms

The South American subcontinent supports one of the world's most diverse and commercially very important ichthyofauna. In this context, the study of South American fish parasites is of increased relevance in understanding their key roles in ecosystems, regulating the abundance or density of host populations, stabilizing food webs and structuring host communities. It is hard to estimate the number of fish parasites in South America. The number of fish species studied for parasites is still low (less than 10%), although the total number of host-parasite associations (HPAs) found in the present study was 3971. Monogeneans, with 835 species (1123 HPAs, 28.5%), and trematodes, with 662 species (1127 HPAs, 30.9%), are the more diverse groups. Data gathered from the literature are useful to roughly estimate species richness of helminths from South American fish, even though there are some associated problems: the reliability of information depends on accurate species identification; the lack of knowledge about life cycles; the increasing number of discoveries of cryptic species and the geographically biased number of studies. Therefore, the closest true estimations of species diversity and distribution will rely on further studies combining both molecular and morphological approaches with ecological data such as host specificity, geographical distribution and life-cycle data. Research on biodiversity of fish parasites in South America is influenced by problems such as funding, taxonomic impediments and dispersion of research groups. Increasing collaboration, interchange and research networks in the context of globalization will enable a promising future for fish parasitology in South America.

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“…(2012, 2015), Pantoja et al . (2015, 2016) and Mafra et al . (2015) have demonstrated the importance of molecular data for adequate diagnosis.…”

Section: Taxonomy and Systematics Of The Helminths Parasitic In Fish mentioning

confidence: 92%

Helminth parasites of South American fishes: current status and characterization as a model for studies of biodiversity

et al. 2016

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“…Therefore, this also represents a first record for this nematode species in the eastern Atlantic. Although our L3 larvae fit morphologically and molecularly with H. deardorffoverstreetorum , described by Knoff et al () as a new species, this species has recently been considered species inquirenda due to its problematic description and diagnosis which are based only on larvae (Pantoja, Pereira, Santos, & Luque, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 41%

The hidden companion of non‐native fishes in north‐east Atlantic waters

Rodríguez

Bañón

Ramilo

2019

Journal of Fish Diseases

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A tropicalization phenomenon of ichthyofauna has been described in the last decades in Galicia (north‐eastern Atlantic), with increasing reports of tropical and subtropical fishes appearing northward this distribution range. A search for parasites was carried out in the digestive tract of two specimens first captured in Galician waters: the prickly puffer Ephippion guttifer (Tetraodontidae) and the African stripped grunt Parapristipoma octolineatum (Haemulidae). Examination of E. guttifer showed high intensity of nematodes, from three different genera: Cucullanus (Cucullanidae), Hysterothylacium (Raphidascaridae) and Anisakis (Anisakidae), with demonstrated pathogenicity to humans. Molecular identification allowed the identification of Anisakis pegreffii, already described in the area, and first reports for European waters of Cucullanus dodsworthi, Hysterothylacium reliquens and a new Hysterothylacium sp. P. octolineatum showed a far lower level of parasitization, with two Hysterothylacium larvae, genetically identified as Hysterothylacium deardorffoverstreetorum, also its first report in the eastern Atlantic. Thus, possible ecological impact of the occurrence of two non‐native individual fishes in a new area could be remarkably higher if we see this issue through the lens of the parasitological perspective, as far as only two individual fish can harbour more of one hundred nematode parasites belonging to different species, most of them also new species for that area.

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“…II (Maia et al 2017, Otranto et al 2013a. There have even been synonymizations of informal names (for exmple for Hysterothylacium larval types I to XIV: Pantoja et al 2016).…”

Section: Nature Of Species Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylum Nematoda: trends in species descriptions, the documentation of diversity, systematics, and the species concept

Hodda

2022

Zootaxa

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This paper summarizes the trends in nematode species description and systematics emerging from a comparison of the latest comprehensive classification and census of Phylum Nematoda (Hodda 2022a, b) with earlier classifications (listed in Hodda 2007). It also offers some general observations on trends in nematode systematics emerging from the review of the voluminous literature used to produce the classification. The trends in nematodes can be compared with developments in the systematics of other organisms to shed light on many of the general issues confronting systematists now and into the future.

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Morphology and molecular characterization hold hands: clarifying the taxonomy of Hysterothylacium (Nematoda: Anisakidae) larval forms

Cited by 15 publications

References 33 publications

Helminth parasites of South American fishes: current status and characterization as a model for studies of biodiversity

Helminth parasites of South American fishes: current status and characterization as a model for studies of biodiversity

The hidden companion of non‐native fishes in north‐east Atlantic waters

Phylum Nematoda: trends in species descriptions, the documentation of diversity, systematics, and the species concept

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