Monogenetic (Platyhelminthes, Monogenea) parasites of species of genus Leporinus (Anostomidae) from the Upper Paranapanema River, Sao Paulo, Brazil: morphological and molecular characterization

• Grant number: 16/25540-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2017
• End date: December 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology
• Principal Investigator: Reinaldo José da Silva
• Grantee: Marcela Fontes Bongiovani
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Being the largest country in Latin America, Brazil in its great territorial extension, encompasses different aquatic ecosystems that shelter one of the biggest ichthyofaunistic diversities of fresh water. The Paraná River Basin, covers five Brazilian states and has as one of the main tributaries the Paranapanema River. The region called Alto Paranapanema River is composed mainly of fish of the order Characiformes, Siluriformes, Gymnotiformes and Perciformes. Inside the order Characiformes, are inserted species of great ecological and economic importance for Brazil, and the anastomids of the genus Leporinus stand out for the large number of species used in commercial, sport and aquaculture fisheries. In general, freshwater fish have a wide variety of parasites. This is due to the fact that these organisms have lived for a long time in close association with numerous invertebrate forms, and the Monogenea Class is one of the main taxonomic groups. Although there are many descriptive studies on species of these monogenetics, there are still many taxonomic problems in their descriptions, requiring redescriptions, revisions, synonyms, and, finally, the invalidation of species. Therefore, molecular biology is currently considered a tool that can contribute to a faster and more accurate identification of the species that are already described, and helps in the identification and characterization of new organisms. Thus, the present project aims to make the morphological and molecular identification of parasitic monogenéticos of Leporinus octofasciatus and Leporinus striatus, collected in Upper Paranapanema River. (AU)