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Epidemiological and molecular data on heterophyid trematode metacercariae found in the muscle of grey mullets (Osteichthyes: Mugilidae) from Sardinia (western Mediterranean Sea)

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Abstract

This study is a contribution to the molecular taxonomy and epidemiology of heterophyid (Trematoda: Heterophyidae) metacercariae found in the muscle of Mugilidae (Osteichthyes) from Sardinia (western Mediterranean Sea). Sixty specimens of mugilids (13 Chelon labrosus, 18 Liza aurata, 6 Liza ramada, 8 Liza saliens, 15 Mugil cephalus) were examined and 17,899 metacercariae isolated in 95 % of the hosts. Four types of metacercariae were identified: Heterophyes sp. (n = 14,113), Heterophyes sp. -small (1225), Stictodora sp. (1606), and Ascocotyle (Phagicola) sp. (955). The experimental infection of a hamster with Heterophyes sp. metacercariae produced six adults identified as Heterophyes heterophyes and two as Heterophyes cf. nocens. The morphology of Heterophyes sp. -small metacercariae matched with that of Heterophyes dispar. The sequence analysis of the ITS2 and 28S portions of rDNA confirmed the morphological identification of metacercariae, showing four clusters. All adults grouped together with the Heterophyes sp. metacercariae, whereas adults of Heterophyes nocens from Korea clustered separately, showing that this species is distinguished from H. heterophyes, and suggesting caution in the exclusive use of the number of rodlets of the genital sucker to separate the two species. The presence of metacercariae was high in all hosts; the highest prevalence is of Heterophyes sp. (prevalence ≥78 %; mean intensity ≥135 metacercariae/100 g muscle), and the most heavily infected host is M. cephalus (prevalence = 100 %; mean intensity = 841 metacercariae/100 g muscle).

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the fishermen of the Mistras Lagoon who collaborated to the sampling. A special thank to A Kostadinova, T Scholz and S Georgieva for the support and helpful advices. The suggestions of an anonymous reviewer contributed to improve the final version of the paper. C Spanu revised the English of the manuscript.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Sassari, via Vienna, 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy

      Simonetta Masala, Maria Cristina Piras, Giovanni Garippa & Paolo Merella

    2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

      Daria Sanna

    3. Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, South Korea

      Jong-Yil Chai & Bong-Kwang Jung

    4. Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju, 660-751, South Korea

      Woon-Mok Sohn

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    1. Simonetta Masala
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    Correspondence to Paolo Merella.

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    Simonetta Masala and Maria Cristina Piras contributed equally to this work.

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    ESM 1

    Supplementary Figure S1: Maximum likelihood tree showing the phylogenetic relationships of the species based on 28S analysis. Only bootstrap values ≥70 % are indicated as nodal supports. Branches with nodal supports <70 % were collapsed. The specimens’ labels are as in Table 1. (TIF 905 kb)

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    Masala, S., Piras, M.C., Sanna, D. et al. Epidemiological and molecular data on heterophyid trematode metacercariae found in the muscle of grey mullets (Osteichthyes: Mugilidae) from Sardinia (western Mediterranean Sea). Parasitol Res 115, 3409–3417 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5101-7

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