Molecular Phylogenies of Leeches and Haemoparasites Infecting Freshwater Turtles in Aquatic Ecosystems of Northern Africa Suggest Phylogenetic Congruence between Placobdella costata Sensu Lato and Haemogregarina stepanowi Sensu Lato

Author:

Verneau Olivier123,Melliti Sirine14,Kimdil Latifa15,El Mouden El Hassan5,Achouri Mohamed Sghaier4ORCID,Rouag Rachid6ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens, University of Perpignan Via Domitia, UMR 5110, F-66860 Perpignan, France

2. CNRS, Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens, UMR 5110, F-66860 Perpignan, France

3. Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 20520, South Africa

4. Laboratoire de Diversité, Gestion et Conservation des Systèmes Biologiques, LR18ES06, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis-El Manar, Tunis 2092, Tunisia

5. Laboratory of Water, Biodiversity and Climatic Change, Faculty of Sciences, Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco

6. Laboratoire de Recherche Biodiversité et Pollution des Ecosystèmes, Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université Chadli Bendjedid El-Tarf, BP73, El-Tarf 36000, Algeria

Abstract

Haemogregarines are blood parasites with a life-cycle involving a vertebrate as the intermediate host and an invertebrate as the definitive host and vector. Extensive phylogenetic investigations based on 18S-rRNA gene sequences have shown that Haemogregarina stepanowi (Apicomplexa: Haemogregarinidae) is able to infest a large diversity of freshwater turtle species, including the European pond turtle Emys orbicularis, the Sicilian pond turtle Emys trinacris, the Caspian turtle Mauremys caspica, the Mediterranean pond turtle Mauremys leprosa, and the Western Caspian turtle Mauremys rivulata, among others. From the same molecular markers, H. stepanowi is further considered to be a complex of cryptic species predisposed to infect the same host species. While Placobdella costata is known to be the unique vector of H. stepanowi, it is only recently that independent lineages within P. costata have been illustrated—suggesting the presence of at least five unique leech species across Western Europe. The aims of our study were therefore to investigate from mitochondrial markers (COI) the genetic diversity within haemogregarines and leeches infecting freshwater turtles of the Maghreb, in order to identify processes of parasite speciation. We showed that H. stepanowi consists of at least five cryptic species in the Maghreb, while two Placobella species were identified in the same area. Although an Eastern–Western speciation pattern was apparent for both leeches and haemogregarines, we cannot make definitive conclusions regarding co-speciation patterns between parasites and vectors. However, we cannot reject the hypothesis of a very strict host–parasite specificity within leeches.

Funder

Fonds Départemental de Coopération Extérieure, 2018, Département des Pyrénées-Orientales

PHC

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Virology,Microbiology (medical),Microbiology

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