An Anomalous Phylogenetic Position for Deraiotrema platacis Machida, 1982 (Lepocreadiidae) from Platax pinnatus on the Great Barrier Reef

The monotypic genus Deraiotrema Machida, 1982 has only been reported once, from the orbicular batfish Platax orbicularis (Forsskål) in the waters around Palau in Micronesia (Machida, 1982). It has a body-shape similar to other lepocreadiids from batfishes, such as species of Bianium Stunkard, 1930 a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDiversity (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 7; p. 104
Main Authors Bray, Rodney A., Cutmore, Scott C., Cribb, Thomas H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.07.2019
Subjects
Barrier reefs
Datasets
Deraiotrema
Deraiotrema platacis
Digenea
Forebodies
Great Barrier Reef
Homoplasy
Lepocreadiidae
Mitochondrial DNA
Morphology
Museums
Ovaries
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Platax
Platax pinnatus
Testes
Palau
Queensland Australia
Lizard Island
Australia
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Summary:The monotypic genus Deraiotrema Machida, 1982 has only been reported once, from the orbicular batfish Platax orbicularis (Forsskål) in the waters around Palau in Micronesia (Machida, 1982). It has a body-shape similar to other lepocreadiids from batfishes, such as species of Bianium Stunkard, 1930 and Diploproctodaeum La Rue, 1926, but differs in having multiple testes in ventral and dorsal layers. Here we report Deraiotrema platacis Machida, 1982 for just the second time, infecting the dusky batfish Platax pinnatus (Linnaeus) from the waters off Lizard Island on the northern Great Barrier Reef. We present a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the position of this genus inferred from 28S rDNA sequences. Surprisingly, we find the species most closely related to Echeneidocoelium indicum despite the infection of completely unrelated hosts and the presence of two characters (lateral fold in the forebody and multiple testes) that are found elsewhere in the Lepocreadiidae. We conclude that homoplasy within the Lepocreadiidae is extensive and that morphology-based prediction of relationships has little prospect of success.
ISSN:1424-2818
1424-2818
DOI:10.3390/d11070104