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An integrative taxonomic investigation of the diversity of digenean parasites infecting the intertidal snail Austrolittorina unifasciata Gray, 1826 (Gastropoda: Littorinidae) in Australia

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Abstract

We investigated for the first time the digenean parasites of Austrolittorina unifasciata Gray (Gastropoda: Littorinidae), a periwinkle snail inhabiting the rocky shores of Australia. Here we present detailed morphological descriptions and molecular data (sequences for the mitochondrial cox1 and the nuclear 28S rRNA gene) for the cercariae and intramolluscan stages of the digenean parasites found. Five species, one each of the families Notocotylidae Lühe, 1909, Gorgocephalidae Manter, 1966 and Philophthalmidae Looss, 1899, and two of the family Renicolidae Dollfus, 1939, were recorded and characterised molecularly. Phylogenetic analyses at the superfamily level provided evidence for the familial and generic affiliation of the species and their relationships with congeners. This study is the first to provide data on the life cycle of a species of the family Gorgocephalidae, a parasite of kyphosid fish for which only adult stages had, thus far, been described. The relatively high prevalence of this species allowed mapping of the cox1 haplotype distribution of Gorgocephalus sp. Aus along the southern coast of New South Wales.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff of the SEM Department at the Institute of Parasitology (Czech Academy of Sciences) and at the University of Otago for their help. We are also grateful to Associate Professors Ian Whittington and Ross Coleman and their colleagues at the Universities of Adelaide and Sydney, for providing access to laboratories in Australia. KoD would like to especially mention Associate Professor Ian Whittington (RIP) who provided help with logistics during a difficult personal period. This work was partially supported by the Linnean Society of New South Wales and the Otago Museum Linneaus Fellowship to KoD and by the Czech Science Foundation (grant P505/12/G112 to AF, AK, and SG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evolutionary and Ecological Parasitology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

    Katie O’Dwyer

  2. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Anna Faltýnková, Simona Georgieva & Aneta Kostadinova

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  1. Katie O’Dwyer
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  2. Anna Faltýnková
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Correspondence to Katie O’Dwyer.

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O’Dwyer, K., Faltýnková, A., Georgieva, S. et al. An integrative taxonomic investigation of the diversity of digenean parasites infecting the intertidal snail Austrolittorina unifasciata Gray, 1826 (Gastropoda: Littorinidae) in Australia. Parasitol Res 114, 2381–2397 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4436-9

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