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Genetic and morphological evidences for the existence of sibling species within Contracaecum rudolphii (Hartwich, 1964) (Nematoda: Anisakidae) in Australia

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Abstract

The aims of this study were to examine specimens of Contracaecum rudolphii from Australian hosts, both morphologically and genetically, based on the ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequence data, to provide a re-description for the species and to investigate the genetic make-up of this species in Australia. Morphological examination of adult specimens of C. rudolphii sensu lato Hartwich 1964 from two species of cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo and P. varius in Australia, showed that they can be divided into two distinct morphotypes. Distinction of C. rudolphii sensu lato was supported by characterisation of the ITS-1 and ITS-2 regions of rDNA which showed that they belong to two different genotypes, different from those occuring in the northern hemisphere and studied previously. Base-pair nucleotide differences of 0.9–2.2% and 1.1–6.8% for ITS-1 and ITS-2, respectively, have been detected among different genotypes of C. rudolphii sensu lato. Herein, the two new species have been designated as Contracaecum rudolphii D and Contracaecum rudolphii E.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professors Lia Paggi and Hans-Peter Fagerholm for discussions. Shokoofeh Shamsi was the grateful recipient of scholarships from the University of Melbourne.

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Author notes

  1. Shokoofeh Shamsi

    Present address: Department of Aquatic Animal Health, Iranian Fisheries Research Institute, P. O. Box 14155-6116, Tehran, Iran

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Aquaculture and Forestry, Biosecurity, Wellington, New Zealand

    Richard Norman

  2. Department of Veterinary Science, The University of Melbourne, 250 Princes Highway, Werribee, Victoria, 3030, Australia

    Shokoofeh Shamsi, Robin Gasser & Ian Beveridge

Authors
  1. Shokoofeh Shamsi
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  2. Richard Norman
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  3. Robin Gasser
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  4. Ian Beveridge
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shokoofeh Shamsi.

Additional information

Nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper are available in the GenBank database under the accession numbers FM210251 to FM210273

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Shamsi, S., Norman, R., Gasser, R. et al. Genetic and morphological evidences for the existence of sibling species within Contracaecum rudolphii (Hartwich, 1964) (Nematoda: Anisakidae) in Australia. Parasitol Res 105, 529–538 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-009-1424-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-009-1424-y

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