Cardicola beveridgei n. sp. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) from the mangrove
jack, Lutjanus argentimaculatus (Perciformes: Lutjanidae), and C. bullardi
n. sp. from the Australian spotted mackerel, Scomberomorus munroi
(Perciformes: Scombridae), from the northern Great Barrier Reef
Matthew J. Nolan
a
, Terrence L. Miller
b
, Scott C. Cutmore
c
, Cinzia Cantacessi
d,e
, Thomas H. Cribb
c,
⁎
a
Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield AL9 7TA, United Kingdom
b
School of Marine and Tropical Biology, Discipline of Aquaculture, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia
c
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
d
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0ES, United Kingdom
e
Centre for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia
abstract article info
Article history:
Received 14 February 2014
Received in revised form 23 April 2014
Accepted 18 June 2014
Available online 27 June 2014
Keywords:
Cardicola
Aporocotylidae
Lutjanidae
Scombridae
Internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2)
Cardicola Short, 1953 is a genus of the Aporocotylidae Odhner, 1912 (Digenea), with 25 currently recognised spe-
cies described from 32 species of Perciformes and Mugiliformes fishes around the world, including eight species
from the Great Barrier Reef. Here, we describe two new species from this region, namely Cardicola beveridgei n. sp.
from the ventricle and atrium of the mangrove jack, Lutjanus argentimaculatus (Forsskål) (Perciformes:
Lutjanidae), and Cardicola bullardi n. sp. from the ventricle of the Australian spotted mackerel, Scomberomorus
munroi Collette & Russo (Perciformes: Scombridae), from off Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia. These two
new species are most easily distinguished from the 25 current members of Cardicola in having the
combination of i) a spinous oral sucker, ii) an anteriorly intercaecal ovary, iii) a uterus that extends anteriorly
from the oötype, iv) the number of spines per ventrolateral transverse row, and in v) body size and the length/
width ratio, vi) the oesophagus and caecal length(s) relative to body total length, vii) the length of the posterior
caeca relative to the anterior pair, viii) the testis length/width ratio and its total size relative to that of the body,
ix) the postovarian field as a percentage of body length, and x) egg size. In addition, C. beveridgei n. sp. is further
differentiated by possessing a female genital pore that opens anterodextral to the male pore while C. bullardi n.
sp. differs further in possessing a testis that is almost entirely intercaecal and does not extend anteriorly to the
level of the intestinal bifurcation. Employing genetic analysis of ITS2 rDNA sequence data, representing these spe-
cies and a further 13 recognised and three putative species of Cardicola, we were able to unequivocally confirm
these specimens as distinct (9–22% different over 420 nucleotide positions). Distance analysis of ITS2 showed
that i) species of Cardicola from the Siganidae formed a monophyletic clade, to the exclusion of other Cardicola
species reported from the Scombridae, Sparidae, Lutjanidae and Chaetodontidae, ii) a general phylogenetic isola-
tion exists between the species of Cardicola reported from scombrid fishes, and iii) C. beveridgei n. sp. and
Cardicola milleri Nolan & Cribb, 2006 from lutjanids and Cardicola chaetodontis Yamaguti, 1970 from
chaetodontids are phylogenetically close, despite the evolutionary remoteness between the host groups and
their highly disparate biology. Given the likelihood of many additional species being attributed to Cardicola, we
predict that continued molecular analyses will indicate that this genus will prove to incorporate a series of radi-
ations in association with particular fish taxa as well as evidence of host-switching. (Nucleotide sequences re-
ported in this paper are available in the GenBank database under accession no. KF752497).
© 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The parasite fauna of teleost fishes of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)
and throughout the Indo-West Pacific Region (IWP) remains incom-
pletely known, both at genus and species levels [1]. Within the Digenea
(Platyhelminthes), the family Aporocotylidae Odhner, 1912 (syn.
Sanguinicolidae von Graff, 1907; the blood flukes of fishes) is as poorly
Parasitology International 63 (2014) 735–745
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mnolan@rvc.ac.uk (M.J. Nolan), terry.miller1@jcu.edu.au
(T.L. Miller), scott.cutmore@uqconnect.edu.au (S.C. Cutmore), cc779@cam.ac.uk
(C. Cantacessi), t.cribb@uq.edu.au (T.H. Cribb).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.parint.2014.06.006
1383-5769/© 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Parasitology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/parint