Host-specific parasites revealing the biogeographical contacts of freshwater fish
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Host-specific parasites exhibit close coevolutionary associations with their hosts. They may reflect the historical biogeography of their hosts, especially those exhibiting disjunctive or fragmented distribution, such are freshwater fish. Monogeneans of the genus Dactylogyrus are gill ectoparasites almost exclusively restricted to cyprinoid fish, often exhibiting strict or phylogenetic host specificity. We used host-specific parasites to reveal the historical biogeographical contacts of cyprinoid fish between North America and Europe and the more recent contacts of leuciscid fish in North America. Dactylogyrus species were collected from cypriniforms (Leuciscidae and Catostomidae) in North America. Other Dactylogyrus species included in the phylogenetic analyses were obtained from our previously published studies. Molecular phylogeny based on three nuclear markers (18S, 28S and ITS1) was reconstructed. Mapping of geographical distribution and fish lineages onto phylogenetic tree was applied to investigate the origin of Nearctic Dactylogyrus and host switches of Dactylogyrus between clades of Holarctic cyprinoids. Host-specific Dactylogyrus parasitizing Nearctic cypriniforms formed two independent clades with different origins likely associated with different historical routes of cyprinoid dispersion to North America. In the Nearctic region, Dactylogyrus switched catostomid fishes. Within two Nearctic clades, Dactylogyrus species did not reflect the phylogenetic relationships among leuciscid clades. We showed that the historical contacts between European and North American leuciscids were accompanied by the host switching of Dactylogyrus. We highlight the importance of host-specific monogeneans as a suitable tool to infer the historical biogeography of freshwater fish exhibiting disjunctive distribution. |
| Related projects: |