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A new genus and species of turtle blood fluke (Digenea: Schistosomatoidea) from the Mekong snail-eating turtle, Malayemys subtrijuga (Schlegel & Müller) (Testudines: Geoemydidae) in Vietnam, with a reassessment of related Asiatic turtle blood flukes and molecular phylogeny

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Abstract

Platt sinuosus Roberts & Bullard n. g., n. sp. (type-species) infects the kidney and mesenteric blood vessels of Mekong snail-eating turtles, Malayemys subtrijuga (Schlegel & Müller), in the Mekong River Basin. Species of Platt Roberts & Bullard n. g. are unique by the combination of having a papillate ventral sucker, vasa efferentia that are dorsal to the gonads, a massive cirrus-sac that is directed anteriad or laterad, and a vitellarium that surrounds the intestinal caeca. The new species resembles Platt ocadiae (Takeuti, 1942) Roberts & Bullard n. comb. but differs from it by having an external seminal vesicle that overlaps with or is immediately posterior to the level of the ventral sucker. Seven species previously of Hapalorhynchus Stunkard, 1922 are reassigned herein to Platt: P. odhnerensis (Mehra, 1933) Roberts & Bullard n. comb.; P. yoshidai (Ozaki, 1939) Roberts & Bullard n. comb.; P. ocadiae; P. oschmarini (Belous, 1963) Roberts & Bullard n. comb.; P. sutlejensis (Mehrotra, 1973) Roberts & Bullard n. comb.; P. synderi (Platt & Sharma, 2012) Roberts & Bullard n. comb.; and P. tkachi (Platt & Sharma, 2012) Roberts & Bullard n. comb. A dichotomous key to Platt spp. is provided. Hapalorhynchus sheilae (Mehrotra, 1973) Bourgat, 1990 and Hapalorhynchus mica (Oshmarin, 1971) Bourgat, 1990 are considered as species inquirendae, and Hapalorhynchus indicus (Thapar, 1933) Price, 1934 and Hapalorhynchus macrotesticularis (Rohde, Lee, & Lim, 1968) Brooks & Sullivan, 1981 are considered as species incertae sedis. Phylogenetic analysis of the large subunit rDNA (28S) showed P. sinuosus and P. snyderi to be sister taxa distinct from a monophyletic Hapalorhynchus and Coeuritrema platti Roberts & Bullard, 2016.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Raphael Orélis-Ribeiro (Curitiba, Brazil) for generating the gene sequence data for the new species; Colin Cai and Stacey LaFrentz (Auburn University) for laboratory assistance in generating molecular data; Matthew Womble (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington DC) for helping collect parasites; and Estefania Rodriguez (AMNH), Anna Philips, Chad Walter, and William Moser (all USNM) for loaning museum specimens.

Funding

This study was supported financially by and is a contribution of the Southeastern Cooperative Fish Parasite and Disease Project. Initial funding was provided by several grants from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology (NSF-DEB 1112729, 1051106, 1048523) to SAB and KMH as well as by an NSF grant to stimulate research and collaborative work in the Mekong River Basin awarded to Herbert “Bert” H. Covert (University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences and Aquatic Parasitology Laboratory, School of Fisheries, Auburn University, 203 Swingle Hall, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA

    Jackson R. Roberts & Stephen A. Bullard

  2. Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences and Aquatic Microbiology Laboratory, School of Fisheries, Auburn University, 559 Duvall Drive, Auburn, AL, 36832, USA

    Cova R. Arias

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Molette Biology Laboratory for Environmental & Climate Change Studies, Auburn University, 101 Rouse Life Sciences Building, Auburn, AL, 36830, USA

    Kenneth M. Halanych

  4. Department of Biology, Institute for Biotechnology and Environment, Nha Trang University, 02 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Nha Trang City, Vietnam

    Binh T. Dang

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  1. Jackson R. Roberts
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Correspondence to Stephen A. Bullard.

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All applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as EA5233B0-DCF8-4890-8762-37EBFEB5C14E. This article was published as an Online First article on the online publication date shown on this page. The article should be cited by using the doi number. This is the Version of Record.

This article is part of the Topical Collection Digenea.

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Roberts, J.R., Arias, C.R., Halanych, K.M. et al. A new genus and species of turtle blood fluke (Digenea: Schistosomatoidea) from the Mekong snail-eating turtle, Malayemys subtrijuga (Schlegel & Müller) (Testudines: Geoemydidae) in Vietnam, with a reassessment of related Asiatic turtle blood flukes and molecular phylogeny. Syst Parasitol 95, 133–145 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-017-9772-y

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