Dataset Information

Morphological variation in Echinorhynchustruttae Schrank, 1788 and the Echinorhynchusbothniensis Zdzitowiecki & Valtonen, 1987 species complex from freshwater fishes of northern Europe.

ABSTRACT: Echinorhynchustruttae and the Echinorhynchusbothniensis species complex are common parasites of salmoniform and other fishes in northern Europe. Echinorhynchusbothniensis and its sibling species Echinorhynchus 'bothniensis' are thought to be closely related to the Nearctic Echinorhynchusleidyi Van Cleave, 1924 based on morphological similarity and common usage of a mysid intermediate host. This study provides the first analysis of morphological and meristic variation in Echinorhynchustruttae and expands our knowledge of anatomical variability in the Echinorhynchusbothniensis group. Morphological variability in Echinorhynchustruttae was found to be far greater than previously reported, with part of the variance attributable to sexual dimorphism. Echinorhynchustruttae, the two species of the Echinorhynchusbothniensis group and Echinorhynchusleidyi displayed considerable interspecific overlap in the ranges of all conventional morphological characters. However, Proboscis profiler, a tool for detecting acanthocephalan morphotypes using multivariate analysis of hook morphometrics, successfully separated Echinorhynchustruttae from the other taxa. The Echinorhynchusbothniensis species group could not be reliably distinguished from Echinorhynchusleidyi (or each other), providing further evidence of the affinity of these taxa. Observations on the distribution of Echinorhynchustruttae in its definitive host population are also reported.

SUBMITTER: Wayland MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3964692 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Morphological variation in Echinorhynchustruttae Schrank, 1788 and the Echinorhynchusbothniensis Zdzitowiecki & Valtonen, 1987 species complex from freshwater fishes of northern Europe.

Wayland Matthew T MT

Biodiversity data journal 20130916 1

Echinorhynchustruttae and the Echinorhynchusbothniensis species complex are common parasites of salmoniform and other fishes in northern Europe. Echinorhynchusbothniensis and its sibling species Echinorhynchus 'bothniensis' are thought to be closely related to the Nearctic Echinorhynchusleidyi Van Cleave, 1924 based on morphological similarity and common usage of a mysid intermediate host. This study provides the first analysis of morphological and meristic variation in Echinorhynchustruttae and ...[more]

PMID: 24723769

Similar Datasets

Project description:The cichlid fishes comprise the largest extant vertebrate family and are the quintessential example of rapid "explosive" adaptive radiations and phenotypic diversification. Despite low genetic divergence, East African cichlids harbor a spectacular intra- and interspecific morphological diversity, including the hyper-variable, neural crest (NC)-derived traits such as coloration and craniofacial skeleton. Although the genetic and developmental basis of these phenotypes has been investigated, understanding of when, and specifically how early, in ontogeny species-specific differences emerge, remains limited. Since adult traits often originate during embryonic development, the processes of embryogenesis could serve as a potential source of species-specific variation. Consequently, we designed a staging system by which we compare the features of embryogenesis between three Malawi cichlid species-Astatotilapia calliptera, Tropheops sp. 'mauve' and Rhamphochromis sp. "chilingali"-representing a wide spectrum of variation in pigmentation and craniofacial morphologies. Our results showed fundamental differences in multiple aspects of embryogenesis that could underlie interspecific divergence in adult adaptive traits. First, we identified variation in the somite number and signatures of temporal variation, or heterochrony, in the rates of somite formation. The heterochrony was also evident within and between species throughout ontogeny, up to the juvenile stages. Finally, the identified interspecific differences in the development of pigmentation and craniofacial cartilages, present at the earliest stages of their overt formation, provide compelling evidence that the species-specific trajectories begin divergence during early embryogenesis, potentially during somitogenesis and NC development. Altogether, our results expand our understanding of fundamental cichlid biology and provide new insights into the developmental origins of vertebrate morphological diversity.

Project description:Accurately delimiting species is fundamentally important for understanding species diversity and distributions and devising effective strategies to conserve biodiversity. However, species delimitation is problematic in many taxa, including 'non-adaptive radiations' containing morphologically cryptic lineages. Fortunately, coalescent-based species delimitation methods hold promise for objectively estimating species limits in such radiations, using multilocus genetic data. Using coalescent-based approaches, we delimit species and infer evolutionary relationships in a morphologically conserved group of Central American freshwater fishes, the Poecilia sphenops species complex. Phylogenetic analyses of multiple genetic markers (sequences of two mitochondrial DNA genes and five nuclear loci) from 10/15 species and genetic lineages recognized in the group support the P. sphenops species complex as monophyletic with respect to outgroups, with eight mitochondrial 'major-lineages' diverged by ≥2% pairwise genetic distances. From general mixed Yule-coalescent models, we discovered (conservatively) 10 species within our concatenated mitochondrial DNA dataset, 9 of which were strongly supported by subsequent multilocus Bayesian species delimitation and species tree analyses. Results suggested species-level diversity is underestimated or overestimated by at least ~15% in different lineages in the complex. Nonparametric statistics and coalescent simulations indicate genealogical discordance among our gene tree results has mainly derived from interspecific hybridization in the nuclear genome. However, mitochondrial DNA show little evidence for introgression, and our species delimitation results appear robust to effects of this process. Overall, our findings support the utility of combining multiple lines of genetic evidence and broad phylogeographical sampling to discover and validate species using coalescent-based methods. Our study also highlights the importance of testing for hybridization versus incomplete lineage sorting, which aids inference of not only species limits but also evolutionary processes influencing genetic diversity.

Dataset Information

Morphological variation in Echinorhynchustruttae Schrank, 1788 and the Echinorhynchusbothniensis Zdzitowiecki & Valtonen, 1987 species complex from freshwater fishes of northern Europe.

Publications

Morphological variation in Echinorhynchustruttae Schrank, 1788 and the Echinorhynchusbothniensis Zdzitowiecki & Valtonen, 1987 species complex from freshwater fishes of northern Europe.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets