Molecular phylogeny of pontobdelline leeches and their place in the descent of fish leeches (Hirudinea, Piscicolidae) |
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| Authors: | Serge Y Utevsky Andrei Y Utevsky Stefano Schiaparelli & Peter Trontelj |
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| Institution: | Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Maidan Svobody 4, Kharkiv 61077, Ukraine.; Universitàdi Genova, Viale Benedetto XV N?5, Genova I-16132, Italy; Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ve?na pot 111, P.O. Box 2995, Ljubljana 1001, Slovenia |
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| Abstract: | Phylogenetic relationships of all genera of the fish leech subfamily Pontobdellinae were investigated using mitochondrial (12S rDNA, COI, tRNA-Leu, ND1) and nuclear (28S rDNA) DNA sequences under maximum likelihood, Bayesian inference and parsimony. All methods resulted in trees that corroborated the monophyly of the family Piscicolidae, but recovered their subfamily Pontobdellinae as non-monophyletic. Based on the basal position of the giant Antarctic Megaliobdella szidati , it is hypothesized that the putative ancestor of fish leeches was a free-ranging, large bodied, muscular leech. The next branch contains parasites of cartilaginous fishes, Pontobdella muricata and Pontobdella macrothela . Two remaining genera of the subfamily (the Arctic Oxytonostoma and the Antarctic Moorebdellina ) showed weak affinities to other piscicolid taxa. The obtained phylogenetic hypothesis suggests a possible transition from an ancestral free-ranging life style and temporary parasitism, to parasitism on cartilaginous fishes, followed by parasitism on bony fishes. |
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