Phylogeny of the Trichostrongylina (Nematoda) inferred from 28S rDNA sequences

We produced a molecular phylogeny of species within the order Strongylida (bursate nematodes) using the D1 and D2 domains of 28S rDNA, with 23 new sequences for each domain. A first analysis using Caenorhabditis elegans as an outgroup produced a tree with low resolution in which three taxa (Dictyocaulus filaria, Dictyocaulus noerneri, and Metastrongylus pudendotectus) showed highly divergent sequences. In a second analysis, these three species and C. elegans were removed and an Ancylostomatina, Bunostomum trigonocephalum, was chosen (on the basis of previous morphological analyses) as the outgroup for an analysis of the phylogenetic relationships between and within the Strongylina (strongyles) and Trichostrongylina (trichostrongyles). A very robust tree was obtained. The Trichostrongylina were monophyletic, but the Strongylina were paraphyletic, though this requires confirmation. Within the Trichostrongylina, the three superfamilies defined from morphological characters are confirmed, with the Trichostrongyloidea sister group to a clade including the Molineoidea and Heligmosomoidea. Within the Trichostrongyloidea, the Cooperiidae, Trichostrongylidae, and Haemonchidae were polytomous, the Haemonchinae were monophyletic, but the Ostertagiinae were paraphyletic. The sister-group relationships between Molineoidea and Heligmosomoidea were unsuspected from previous morphological analysis. No unequivocal morphological synapomorphy could be found for the grouping Molineoidea + Heligmosomoidea, but none was found which contradicted it.