Parasite systematics in the 21st century: opportunities and obstacles

Abstract

Thanks to the phylogenetic systematics revolution, systematic parasitology is poised to make significant contributions in tropical medicine and public health, biodiversity science, and evolutionary biology. At the same time, the taxonomic impediment is acute within parasitology. Both systematists and non-systematists must be interested in working towards common goals and establishing collaborative efforts in order to re-vitalize and re-populate systematic parasitology.

Molecular characterization of the Indian poultry nodular tapeworm, Raillietina echinobothrida (Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea: Davaineidae) based on rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 region

“…Because of its fast rate of evolution the ITS2 region continues to be applied for phylogenetic reconstructions at the species and genus levels (Alvarez and Wendel 2003;Wolf et al 2005;Ashokan and Pillai 2008). In context of the cestode group of parasites the orders Cyclophyllidea, Pseudophyllidea, Caryophyllidea and Trypanorhyncha have been assessed on the basis of morphological, ultrastructural and ontogenetic characters (Hoberg et al 1997(Hoberg et al , 2001Beveridge et al 1999;Bray et al 1999) and several controversial phylogenetic disputes of cestode parasites have been published (Haukisalmi et al 2001;Literak et al 2006). Since in contrast to the bordering regions of ribosomal subunits; sequence is not conserved evolutionarily, thus genetic differentiation is detectable even in closely related groups of organisms.…”

“…The taxonomy of Cyclophyllidea traditionally depends upon the accurate descriptions of small differences in the size and shape of the scolex, rostellum (unarmed or armed with rows of hooks), suckers and gravid proglottids (Sawada 1965). However, with a rich resource of bourgeoning data the molecular approach is proving to be more rapid, sensible and reliable than that based on morphological data alone for phylogenetic analysis (Brooks and Hoberg 2001).…”

“…Since Woese and Fox (1977), the nuclear ribosomal repeat cistrons have also been widely implied for parasites (Littlewood and Olson 2001;Waeschenbach et al 2007;Jyrwa et al 2009;Goswami et al 2009;Tandon et al 2010;Prasad et al 2011;Ghatani et al 2012). Molecular phylogeny has advanced our understanding of comparative studies in basic and applied biology and more generally of their position within the phylum Platyhelminthes (Brooks and Hoberg 2001;Tandon et al 2010).…”

Parasitic communities of Hoplosternum littorale (Hancock, 1828) as indicators of environmental impact

“…The river comprises a drainage sub-basin, equivalent to 584.0 Km 2 in the direction of the South-North axis and flows into the Tiete River, in a location a little after the Barra Bonita Reservoir (Caramaschi 1986). The issue concerning the global biodiversity has been widely discussed nowadays, and some authors have defended the study of the parasite species as a fundamental part of it and the least studied group since there is a deficit in the studies about systematic and parasite biodiversity in the world (Brooks andHoberg 2001, Poulin andMorand 2004). Parasites are indicative of several biological aspects of their hosts, including their diet, migration, recruitment and phylogeny, but they can also be direct indicators of the environmental quality (Galli et al 2001).…”

PROCAMALLANUS (SPIROCAMALLANUS) INOPINATUS (NEMATODA: CAMALLANIDAE) PARASITANDO ASTYANAX ALTIPARANAE GARUTTI & BRITSKI, 2000 (CHARACIFORMES; CHARACIDAE) COLETADO NO RIO DO PEIXE, ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO, BRASIL.

“…A questão da importância da biodiversidade global tem sido muito discutida atualmente e alguns autores têm defendido o estudo das espécies de parasitos como parte fundamental desta, e como sendo o grupo menos estudado neste sentido, já que existe um déficit nos estudos sobre sistemática e biodiversidade parasitária no mundo (BROOKS;HOBERG, 2001, POULIN;MORAND, 2004). Esta biodiversidade, conseqüentemente, pode ser abordada, não apenas como uma questão de inventário de espécies, mas também como o estudo das relações hospedeiro-parasito em função de variáveis ecológicas e filogenéticas, visando detectar os determinantes da biodiversidade e sugerindo novas linhas de pesquisa neste sentido MORAND, 2004).…”