Host-specific parasites as indicator of evolution and historic dispersion of their hosts: model Dactylogyrus (Monogenea) and cyprinid fish in Perimediterranean area
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Dispersion of cyprinid fish is enigmatic and topic of many recent discussions. Even if their dispersion is limited to rivers, this highly diversified fish family inhabits significant part of the world. The special interest is devoted to the distribution of cyprinids around Mediterranean Sea, where endemic genera are “trapped” on their specific peninsulas. The studies focusing on the historical biogeography and phylogeny of these genera can resolve the question of cyprinid speciation. Several biogeographical scenarios were proposed to explain dispersion and recent distribution of cyprinid species from perimediterranean area. The first one represents the dispersal model according to which cyprinid dispersion occurred via rivers or during Lago Mare phase in the Miocene era. Another one is vicariant model, where speciation occurred by geographical isolation. The host specificity of fish parasites seems to be the most important parasite characteristic with respect to how we can improve our understanding of fish biogeography. If the host specificity of a parasitic group is high, we can expect that evolution of hosts and their parasites are intimately linked. In this case, the study of parasite phylogeny may represent the helpful tool to investigate the historical biogeography of primarily freshwater fish. For our study, the Dactylogyrus (Monogenea) parasites represent the most suitable model. These parasites exhibit a high species richness and high host specificity – the majority of the species show a preference for a single host species or closely related host species. The aims of this study are following: (1) to analyze the diversity and the degree of endemism of the gill ectoparasites of Dactylogyrus genus, (2) to perform the phylogenetic reconstruction of the endemic Dactylogyrus species collected from their endemic cyprinid hosts in the perimediterranean area and (3) perform the cophylogenetic analysis to test the hypotheses of biogeographical dispersion scenario. |
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