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Morphological and genetic characterisation of Centrorhynchus clitorideus (Meyer, 1931) (Acanthocephala: Centrorhynchidae) from the little owl Athene noctua (Scopoli) (Strigiformes: Strigidae) in Pakistan

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Abstract

Centrorhynchus Lühe, 1911 is a large genus of acanthocephalans mainly parasitic in various strigiform and falconiform birds. Some species of Centrorhynchus have not been adequately described. Here, the detailed morphology of C. clitorideus (Meyer, 1931) was studied using light and, for the first time, scanning electron microscopy, based on newly collected specimens from the little owl Athene noctua (Scopoli) (Strigiformes: Strigidae) in Pakistan. Partial sequences of the 18S and 28S nuclear ribosomal RNA genes and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) of C. clitorideus were generated for the first time. No nucleotide variation was detected for the partial 18S and 28S regions, but 3.30% of intraspecific nucleotide divergence was found for the cox1 gene. Phylogenetic analyses based on 28S and 18S sequence data showed that C. clitorideus formed a sister relationship with Centrorhynchus sp. MGV-2005 or Centrorhynchus sp. MGV-2005 + C. microcephalus (Bravo-Hollis, 1947), respectively.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr David Gibson (Natural History Museum, UK) for providing important literature for the present study. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-31872197), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB26000000) and the Youth Top Talent Support Program of Hebei Province for Liang Li.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Hebei Province, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, Hebei, People’s Republic of China

    Qing Zhao, Hui-Xia Chen & Liang Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730046, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    Nehaz Muhammad, Jun Ma &  Suleman

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  1. Qing Zhao
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  5. Suleman
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Correspondence to Liang Li.

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Zhao, Q., Muhammad, N., Chen, HX. et al. Morphological and genetic characterisation of Centrorhynchus clitorideus (Meyer, 1931) (Acanthocephala: Centrorhynchidae) from the little owl Athene noctua (Scopoli) (Strigiformes: Strigidae) in Pakistan. Syst Parasitol 97, 517–528 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-020-09930-8

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