Diversification processes between monogenoids (Dactylogyridae) and their marine catfish (Siluriformes: Ariidae) from the Atlantic coast of South America

Author(s)

Soares, Geusivam B. B. ; Adriano, Edson A. A. ; Domingues, Marcus V. V. ; Balbuena, Juan Antonio

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Parasitology; v. N/A, p. 11-pg., 2022-11-29.

Abstract

Due to their high specificity, monogenoids from fish provide an interesting model to study historical associations of hosts and parasites. High agreement between host and parasite phylogeny is often interpreted as evidence of cospeciation. However, cophylogenetic signal may also arise from other, either adaptive or non-adaptive, processes. We applied the recently developed Cophylospace Framework to better understand the evolutionary relationship between monogenoids and marine catfish from the Atlantic coast of South America. The associations between 12 marine catfish and 10 monogenoid species were assessed. Molecular data of host and parasite species were used for phylogenetic reconstruction. We used anchor morphology based on Procrustes coordinates to evaluate whether closely related hosts are associated with morphologically similar parasites. To assess the association between parasite phylogeny and host morphology, we produced a distance matrix based on morphological characters of catfishes. Agreement between phylogenies and between phylogeny and morphology was measured using Procrustes R2 computed with PACo. The parasite phylogeny obtained in this study represents the first complete phylogenetic hypothesis of monogenoids parasitizing ariids from South America. The Cophylospace analysis suggested that phylogenetic and morphological distance of monogenoids contributes similarly to explain the pattern of host-parasite associations, whereas parasite phylogeny is more strongly associated with the morphological traits of the hosts than with host phylogeny. This evidence suggests that cospeciation is not a major force accounting for diversification in the monogenoids studied. Rather host morphological traits seem to be a more important driver, which conforms with evidence from other host?monogenoid systems. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 21/07380-0 - Comparison of cophylogenetic methods in the analyses of patterns of historical association between monogenoidean parasites and their marine catfish (Siluriformes: Ariidae) from Brazilian coast
• Grantee: Geusivam Barbosa Soares
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 17/17531-0 - Integrative taxonomy, phylogeny and coevolution of monogenoids (Platyhelminthes: Cercomeromorpha) parasites of Ariidae (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes) from Brazilian Coast
• Grantee: Geusivam Barbosa Soares
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate