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Cucullanus pinnai pinnai and C. pinnai pterodorasi (Nematoda Cucullanidae): what does the integrative taxonomy tell us about these species and subspecies classification?

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Abstract

Cucullanus pinnai has been divided in two subspecies (C. pinnai pinnai and C. pinnai pterodorasi) based on the morphology of oesophastome. While C. pinnai pinnai apparently shows low host specificity and broad geographic occurrence, with certain morphological variations, C. pinnai pterodorasi was reported once, parasitizing Pterodoras granulosus. We used an integrative taxonomic approach to evaluate whether or not populations of C. pinnai pinnai from Trychomycterus spegazzinii (Escoipe River, Argentina) and Pimelodus fur (Miranda River, Brazil), and of C. pinnai pterodorasi from Pterodoras granulosus (Miranda River, Brazil) are conspecific. Parasites were observed using light microscopy and genetically characterized based on partial sequences of the 18S and 28S rDNA, ITS1-5.8S-ITS2, and COI mtDNA. Phylogenies were reconstructed and the Generalized Mixed Yule Coalescent (GMYC), Poisson Tree Process (bPTP), and Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) were used for species delimitation purposes. The present samples formed well-supported monophyletic assemblages, corroborating in part the results of morphological analyses; however, they grouped according to geographic origin. Species delimitation suggested conspecificity of C. pinnai pinnai with C. pinnai pterodorasi from Brazil; consequently, the morphology of oesophastome may be an intraspecific variation. Results also indicated that C. pinnai may represent a species complex as samples from Argentina were suggestive of an independent specific entity. However, definitive affirmations are premature, since there is no autapomorphy for separating C. pinnai from Brazil and Argentina and sampling was limited to three host species from two river basins. The phylogenetic reconstructions also confirmed the artificiality of some genera within Cucullanidae.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Fernando Paiva from Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul for support during field collections and Dr. Carina Elisei from Universidade Católica Dom Bosco for support during laboratorial genetic procedures. Thanks are also due to Florencia Liquin, Jose Saravia, and Roberto Sanchez for their assistance in field collections and laboratorial procedures.

Funding

This work was financed in part by the Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (FONCyT PICT-2020–02399) and Consejo de Investigación, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Argentina (grant number 2481/0). JVC was supported the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brasil (CAPES, Finance Code 001). FBP was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG, Process no. APQ-01179–21). JLL was supported by a research fellowship of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Brasil (CNPq). LAC was supported by a Post-doctoral fellowship from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET, Argentina).

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Conceptualization and study designs: Felipe Bisaggio Pereira and Lorena Gisella Ailán-Choke. Investigation and sampling: all authors. Laboratory analyses: Felipe Bisaggio Pereira, Lorena Gisella Ailán-Choke and Lennon Souza Malta. Data analyses and compilation: Felipe Bisaggio Pereira, Lorena Gisella Ailán-Choke and João Victor Couto. Drawing preparation: Lennon Souza Malta. Writing of the original draft: Felipe Bisaggio Pereira, Lorena Gisella Ailán-Choke. All the authors reviewed the manuscript. Supervision: Felipe Bisaggio Pereira.

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Correspondence to Felipe B. Pereira.

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Ailán-Choke, L.G., Davies, D., Malta, L.S. et al. Cucullanus pinnai pinnai and C. pinnai pterodorasi (Nematoda Cucullanidae): what does the integrative taxonomy tell us about these species and subspecies classification?. Parasitol Res 122, 557–569 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07758-3

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