New type of xiphidiocercariae (Digenea: Microphalloidea) from South Vietnam

Abstract

We found unusual digenean intramolluscan stages, sporocysts and cercariae, in gastropods Sulcospira dautzenbergiana (Morelet) (Caenogastropoda: Pachychilidae) from Southern Vietnam and named them Cercaria cattieni 1. These cercariae have a stylet and thus belong to the Xiphidiata. However, such combination of characters as extremely large body size and I-shaped excretory bladder has not been found before in any other xiphidiocercariae. We obtained COI, ITS1, 5.8S + ITS2, and 28S rDNA sequences for C. cattieni 1. The latter allowed us to specify the phylogenetic position of the discovered cercariae: C. cattieni 1 falls within the superfamily Microphalloidea and is most closely grouped to Pachypsolus irroratus (Rudolphi, 1819) (Pachypsolidae), the sea turtle parasite. Information on the family Pachypsolidae is limited. Judging from the molecular phylogeny, C. cattieni 1 might be the larva of the Pachypsolidae, documented for the first time.