Abstract
Cucullanid nematodes identified morphologically as Dichelyne (Cucullanellus) pleuronectidis (Yamaguti, 1935) were collected from the ridged-eye flounder Pleuronichthys cornutus (Temminck & Schlegel) (Pleuronectiformes: Pleuronectidae) in the East China Sea. Their examination using light microscopy and, for the first time, scanning electron microscopy, revealed several important, but previously unreported morphological features and the presence of remarkable morphological differences in the intestinal caecum and deirids among some individuals. Consequently, specimens of D. pleuronectidis were characterised using molecular methods by sequencing and analysing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the ribosomal DNA to test whether the present material with broad range of morphological variability, represents a complex of sibling species or a single species. The results of molecular analyses proved that the differences in the intestinal ceacum and deirids should be considered as intraspecific variation and that the nematode material collected from P. cornutus in the East China Sea represented a single species, D. pleuronectidis. These new morphological and genetic data contributed to an accurate diagnosis of this hitherto insufficiently known nematode and also indicated that a more rigorous study based on morphological and genetic data with broader representation of the Cucullanidae is required to assess whether the traditionally used diagnostic character of absence or presence of intestinal ceacum is of generic importance in distinguishing Dichelyne and Cucullanus.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Dr. Aneta Kostadinova (Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) for revision of the English of the manuscript. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 31101615, 31272269), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No. C2012205007), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2012M520593), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Education Department (No. Y2012012), the Postdoctoral Research Projects Merit Subsidy of Human Resources and Social Security Department of Hebei Province, the Natural Science Foundation and the Biology Postdoctoral Programme of Hebei Normal University (Nos L2010B13, 111008).
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Li, L., Du, LQ., Xu, Z. et al. Morphological variability and molecular characterisation of Dichelyne (Cucullanellus) pleuronectidis (Yamaguti, 1935) (Ascaridida: Cucullanidae) from the flatfish Pleuronichthys cornutus (Temminck & Schlegel) (Pleuronectiformes: Pleuronectidae) in the East China Sea. Syst Parasitol 87, 87–98 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-013-9456-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-013-9456-1