NOVELTY AND PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE SERENDIPEIDAE (CESTODA: "TETRAPHYLLIDEA")

Abstract

Nanoduplicibothrium n. gen. is erected for the subgroup containing the smallest members of the "tetraphyllidean" family Serendipeidae with bothridia fused lengthwise in 2 pairs that lack both a distinct row of posterior loculi and a cephalic peduncle. Two new species in this genus are described. These are Nanoduplicibothrium leanneae n. gen. n. sp. from Rhinoptera bonasus off South Carolina and Nanoduplicibothrium megaphallum n. sp. from Rhinoptera jayakari off Mozambique. Two species currently assigned to Duplicibothrium are transferred to the new genus as Nanoduplicibothrium paulum n. comb and Nanoduplicibothrium jillae n. comb. and the diagnosis of Duplicibothrium is emended so that it aligns with the revised membership of the group. Duplicibothrium bilai n. sp. is also described from R. jayakari off Mozambique. The description of these species provides formal names for 3 species included in previously published molecular phylogenetic work under the provisional names Duplicibothrium n. sp. 2, Duplicibothrium n. sp. 4, and Duplicibothrium n. sp. 5, respectively. Erection of the new genus substantially reduces the number of instances of congeners in the family parasitizing the same host species because in most instances the pairs of species now represent 1 species each in Nanoduplicibothrium and Duplicibothrium. Sequence data for the D1-D3 region of the 28S rDNA gene were generated for Serendip for the first time from an undescribed species from Aetomylaeus asperrimus collected off Panama. This finding also expands the known host associations of the Serendipeidae beyond the Rhinopteridae to include a species of Myliobatidae. A maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis of all species of serendipeids for which data for the D1-D3 region of the 28S rDNA gene are available confirms the reciprocal monophyly of Nanoduplicibothrium, Duplicibothrium, and Serendip. The phylogenetic placement of the fourth genus in the family-the monotypic Glyphobothrium-remains to be determined.

Keywords: 28S rDNA gene; Duplicibothrium; Nanoduplicibothrium; Rhinoptera; Serendip; Morphology; Mozambique; New species; Phylogeny; Serendipeidae; South Carolina; Taxonomy.