Acta Adriatica, Vol. 66 No. 1, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.32582/aa.66.1.2
Morphological and molecular (cox1, 28S rRNA) data of Microcotyle erythrini Van Beneden & Hesse, 1863 sensu stricto (Polyopisthocotyla, Microcotylidae) infecting the gill lamellae of a marine sparid fish in the Western Mediterranean
Ilhem Hamdi
orcid.org/0000-0002-5297-7417
; Laboratory of Biodiversity, Parasitology and Ecology of Aquatic Ecosystems, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
Bouchra Benmansour
; Laboratory of Biodiversity, Parasitology and Ecology of Aquatic Ecosystems, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
Mohammed Ahmed
; Department of Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
Mehreen Gulsher
Chahinez Bouguerche
orcid.org/0000-0002-9620-8273
; Department of Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
The polyopisthocotylan Microcotyle erythrini was first described from the common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus) collected off Brest, Northeast Atlantic, and subsequently recorded from various sparid hosts across the Mediterranean. Recent studies combining morphometric and molecular data resolved this complex into distinct species, including M. isyebi from Boops boops and M. whittingtoni from Dentex dentex. Here, we investigate Microcotyle from Pagrus pagrus off Tunisia (Western Mediterranean), combining morphological and molecular barcodes (28S rRNA and cox1). The cox1 sequence divergence between Microcotyle from P. pagrus off Tunisia and M. erythrini sensu stricto from P. erythrinus in the Mediterranean was 0-3 %, suggesting the presence of a single species. Newly generated cox1 sequences clustered with high support within the M. erythrini sensu stricto clade reported from P. erythrinus in France and Spain and P. pagrus in Spain and Algeria. Phylogenetic analyses based on partial 28S rDNA sequences corroborated this, as the newly generated 28S sequences of M. erythrini from P. pagrus off Tunisia clustered alongside isolates from P. pagrus and P. erythrinus across the Western Mediterranean. We also provide novel morphometric and anatomical data for M. erythrini sensu lato based on Adriatic specimens (Montenegro) and discuss host specificity patterns in Microcotyle spp. from the Mediterranean. These findings emphasize the importance of comprehensive taxonomic revisions and highlight the complexity of Microcotyle species associated with sparid hosts in the Mediterranean.
Keywords
Polyopisthocotylea; Microcotyle; Sparidae; Tunisia; Mediterranean; Adriatic; Monogenea; DNA barcoding
Hrčak ID:
328463
URI
Publication date:
12.6.2025.
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