Morphometric and molecular characterisation of two new species of Enterogyrus Paperna, 1963 (Dactylogyridae: Ancyrocephalinae) from Oreochromis mossambicus in South Africa
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Enterogyrus Paperna, 1963 is one of 16 genera of Dactylogyridae with an endoparasitic life strategy. To date, 12 Enterogyrus spp. have been described mainly from the African continent, with only some species having a cosmopolitan distribution. To date, only one species, i.e. Enterogyrus cichlidarum Paperna, 1963 has been reported from the Mozambique Tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters, 1852). The study was undertaken from April 2008 to April 2009 at Nwanedi-Luphephe Dam (22o39.492’S; 30o25.342’E) of the Limpopo River System (South Africa), where 45 specimens of O. mossambicus were collected using gill nets. Morphometrical evaluation of collected material revealed the presence of two unknown Enterogyrus species. In November 2014 additional sampling was carried out in order to obtain material for molecular characterisation. The partial SSU+ITS1 and LSU rDNA were sequenced and compared to data available in the nucleotide database. The two new species can be differentiated from known species based on the dimensions and spiral formula of the MCO. Enterogyrus sp. 1 has a 5-2-3 formula with Enterogyrus sp. 2 having a unique 8/9-2-4 formula. The newly identified species differ from each other in their SSU+ITS sequences in 15 of 869 bp. The LSU sequences of both new species resulted as the closest to an undescribed Enterogyrus species described from Senegal. The scarcity of molecular data for Enterogyrus spp. in the nucleotide database should serve as motivation to collect different species of the genus to perform a proper phylogenetic comparison to better understand interspecific relationships. |
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