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Differentiation of European freshwater bucephalids (Digenea: Bucephalidae) based on karyotypes and DNA sequences

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Abstract

Three species of bucephalid digeneans are known in European freshwater habitats. In this study parthenitae of Rhipidocotyle campanula (Dujardin, 1845) and R. fennica Gibson, Taskinen & Valtonen, 1992, infecting unionid bivalves, and adult Bucephalus polymorphus von Baer, 1827 from perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) were investigated using karyological analysis and DNA sequencing. Our previously published data on genetic characteristics of parthenitae of B. polymorphus from Dreissena polymorpha Pallas were used for comparative analysis. Ribosomal DNA sequences (ITS2 and 28S rDNA) were used to estimate the phylogenetic relationships of the three bucephalid species. Very close phylogenetic affinity between investigated species was revealed; the sequence difference between the two species of Rhipidocotyle Diesing, 1858 (3.78% based on 28S) was comparable with intergeneric differences observed in comparisons of B. polymorphus with R. campanula and R. fennica (3.43% and 4.49% based on 28S, respectively). A high degree of similarity was noted in karyotype structure of the two species of Rhipidocotyle. The diploid chromosome sets consist of 14 bi-armed chromosomes with the first pair of metacentric elements markedly larger than the remaining chromosomes. This chromosome set structure is also specific to B. polymorphus. One specimen of Anodonta anatina L. was infected with tetraploid R. fennica (4n = 28). On the basis of karyotype characters and molecular data, species of the genus Rhipidocotyle cannot be recognised as more closely related to each other than to B. polymorphus. Our findings of Lithuanian and Ukrainian populations of unionid mussels infected with R. fennica provide evidence that this species occurs not only in Finland but also in Central and Eastern Europe. Previous reports of B. polymorphus in unionids in these regions are equivocal because of possible confusion with R. fennica.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a grant (No. MIP-84/2010) from the Research Council of Lithuania and The Lithuanian–Ukrainian Cooperation Programme in the Fields of Research and Technologies (Grant No. TAP-LU-11/2012 from the Research Council of Lithuania). The authors also want to express their appreciation to Professor E. Tellervo Valtonen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), Dr. A.E. Zhokhov (Institute of Biology of Inland waters, Russia), Dr. L.N. Yanovich and Dr. M.M. Pampura (Ivan Franko Zhytomyr State University, Ukraine) for helping in collecting unionid bivalves. We also thank the Konnevesi Research Station of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, for providing laboratory and living facilities.

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  1. Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, 08412, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Romualda Petkevičiūtė, Virmantas Stunžėnas & Gražina Stanevičiūtė

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  1. Romualda Petkevičiūtė
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  2. Virmantas Stunžėnas
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  3. Gražina Stanevičiūtė
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Correspondence to Romualda Petkevičiūtė.

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Petkevičiūtė, R., Stunžėnas, V. & Stanevičiūtė, G. Differentiation of European freshwater bucephalids (Digenea: Bucephalidae) based on karyotypes and DNA sequences. Syst Parasitol 87, 199–212 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-013-9465-0

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