Family DACTYLOGYRIDAE Bychowsky, 1933

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Introduction

The Dactylogyridae is a diverse and speciose family, members of which parasitise the gills of freshwater and marine teleost fish. Globally there are more than 200 dactylogyrid genera. Dactylogyrus includes >900 described species worldwide that predominantly infect freshwater Cyprinidae (see Gibson et al. 1996), although they are occasionally reported on Percidae (see Valtonen et al. 1990; Cone et al. 1994; Hayward 1997) and other families (Gibson et al. 1996). Because of this diversity, Dactylogyridae species are excellent models for studies on parasite-host co-evolutoinary processes (Simkova et al. 2004; Whittington & Chisholm 2008).

The large number of subfamilies, genera and species globally and many different views on their interrelationships have resulted in several taxonomic revisions of the family. Following Kritsky & Boeger (1989), nine subfamilies are recognised but only three of these are represented in Australia, with a total of nearly 100 species in 23 genera. For a recent overview of the phylogeny of the dactylogyridae sensu Kritsky & Boeger (1989), see Simkova et al. (2006).

Although Australia has a relatively poor fauna of freshwater fishes due to the lack of freshwater across the continent (Fletcher & Whittington 1998), the studies of Corlis (2004) on atheriniform freshwater fishes hint at a large, undiscovered dactylogyrid fauna. Heavy infections of one species of dactylogyrid, Haliotrema abaddon Kritsky & Stephens, 2001 on Westralian Jewfish, Glaucosoma hebraicum (Glaucosomatidae) contributed to the demise of this fish species as a candidate for aquaculture (Whittington & Chisholm 2008). Due to continuing uncertainty over phylogeny and systematics, no separate information is provided for individual dacytogyrid subfamilies.

Diagnosis References

Kritsky, D.C. & Boeger, W.A. 1989. The phylogenetic status of Ancyrocephalidae Bychowsky, 1937 (Monogenea: Dactylogyroidea). Journal of Parasitology 75: 207-211

Kritsky, D.C. & Stephens, F. 2001. Haliotrema abaddon n. sp. (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae) from the gills of wild and maricultured west Australian dhufish Glaucosoma hebraicum (Teleostei: Glaucosomatidae), in Australia. Journal of Parasitology 87(4): 749-754

Šimkova A., Matejusova, I. & Cunningham, C.O. 2006. A molecular phylogent of the Dactylogyridae sensu Kritsky & Boeger (1989) (Monogenea) based on the D1-D3 domains of large subunit rDNA. Parasitology 133: 43-53

Whittington, I.D. & Chisholm, L.A. 2008. Diseases caused by Monogenea. pp. 683-816 in Eiras, J.C., Segner, H., Wahli, T. & Kapoor, B.G. (eds). Fish Diseases. New Hampshire : Science Publishers Vol. 2.

General References

Cone, D.K., Eurell, T. & Beasley, V. 1994. A report of Dactylogyrus amphibothrium (Monogenea) on the gills of European ruffe in western Lake Superior. Journal of Parasitology 80: 476-478

Corlis, D. 2004. Four new genera of Monogenea (Dactylogyridae) from the gills of Australian Atheriniform freshwater fishes. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 49(2): 537-571

Fletcher, A.S. & Whittington, I.D. 1998. A parasite-host checklist for Monogenea from freshwater fishes in Australia, with comments on biodiversity. Systematic Parasitology 41: 159-168

Gibson, D.I., Timofeeva, T.A. & Gerasev, P.I. 1996. A catalogue of the nominal species of the monogenean genus Dactylogyrus Diesing, 1850 and their host genera. Systematic Parasitology 35: 3-48

Hayward, C.J. 1997. Helminth ectoparasites of sillaginid fishes (Perciformes: Percoidei) have low species richness. Folia Parasitologica. Prague 44: 173-187

Simkova, A., Morand, S., Jobet, E., Gelnar, M. & Verneau, O. 2004. Molecular phylogeny of congeneric monogenean parasites (Dactylogyrus): a case of intrahost speciation. Evolution 58: 1001-1018

Šimkova A., Matejusova, I. & Cunningham, C.O. 2006. A molecular phylogent of the Dactylogyridae sensu Kritsky & Boeger (1989) (Monogenea) based on the D1-D3 domains of large subunit rDNA. Parasitology 133: 43-53

Valtonen, E.T., Prost, M. & Rahkonen, R. 1990. Seasonality of two gill monogeneans from two freshwater fish from an oligotrophic lake in Northeast Finland. International Journal for Parasitology 20: 101-107

Whittington, I.D. & Chisholm, L.A. 2008. Diseases caused by Monogenea. pp. 683-816 in Eiras, J.C., Segner, H., Wahli, T. & Kapoor, B.G. (eds). Fish Diseases. New Hampshire : Science Publishers Vol. 2. [750]

Whittington, I.D. & Chisholm, L.A. 2008. Diseases caused by Monogenea. pp. 683-816 in Eiras, J.C., Segner, H., Wahli, T. & Kapoor, B.G. (eds). Fish Diseases. New Hampshire : Science Publishers Vol. 2.

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