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Gyrodactylus neili n. sp. (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae), a parasite of chain pickerel Esox niger Lesueur (Esocidae) from freshwaters of New Brunswick, Canada

Systematic Parasitology volume 65, Article number: 43 (2006) Cite this article

Abstract

Gyrodactylus neili n. sp. (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) is described from the fins and body surface of Esox niger Lesueur (chain pickerel) (Esocidae) from the St. Croix River drainage, New Brunswick, Canada. G.␣neili n. sp. resembles most closely G. fryi Cone & Dechtiar, 1984, a parasite of E. masquinongy in North America, in having relatively large thin hamuli, well-developed marginal hook sickles with a relatively long, wide blade and short handle, a ventral bar with small antero-lateral processes and tongue-shaped membrane, and a cirrus with many small spines in two rows. The new species is easily separated from G. fryi by the length of the hamuli (70-76 \( \upmu\)m versus 92 \( \upmu\)m, respectively), by the distal width of the sickle (7–9 versus 14-16 \( \upmu\)m, respectively) and by subtle differences in the shape of the toe and heel of the marginal hook sickle. Sequence data (922 bp) of rDNA (internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2 and 5.8S) of G. neili n. sp. returned no identical matches in GenBank. The 5.8 sequence alone, however, was identical to morphologically similar gyrodactylids of the subgenus Gyrodactylus from cyprinid fishes in Eurasia. The discovery of G. neili n. sp. and features of its genetic makeup support the idea that this lineage parasitised ancestral cyprinids and that it radiated, possibly through predator/prey interactions, to an ancestor of contemporary Esox. It is concluded that DNA comparison of monogeneans on Holarctic freshwater hosts, such as E.␣lucius, may shed light on the nature of speciation of these parasites.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NSERC Discovery Grants awarded to M.D.B. Burt and to D.K. Cone, and by the Norwegian Research Council (Project no. 145861/720) to H. Hansen. The authors wish to thank Grethe Robertsen (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo) for help in preparing photomicrographs, and J.W. Smith for thoughtful discussions during the preparation of the manuscript.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 5E1, Canada

    Jaclyn LeBlanc & Michael Burt

  2. Natural History Museum, Department for Zoology, University of Oslo, 1172, Blindern, NO-0318, Oslo, Norway

    Haakon Hansen

  3. Department of Biology, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3, Canada

    David Cone

Authors
  1. Jaclyn LeBlanc
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  2. Haakon Hansen
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  3. Michael Burt
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  4. David Cone
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Correspondence to David Cone.

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LeBlanc, J., Hansen, H., Burt, M. et al. Gyrodactylus neili n. sp. (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae), a parasite of chain pickerel Esox niger Lesueur (Esocidae) from freshwaters of New Brunswick, Canada. Syst Parasitol 65, 43 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-006-9038-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-006-9038-6

Keywords

  • Internal Transcribe Spacer
  • Small Spine
  • Pairwise Genetic Distance
  • Marginal Hook
  • Systematic Parasitology