Phylogeny, Diversity, Distribution, and Host Specificity of Haemoproteus spp. (Apicomplexa: Haemosporida: Haemoproteidae) of Palaearctic Tortoises
A complex wide‐range study on the haemoproteid parasites of chelonians was carried out for the first time. Altogether, 811 samples from four tortoise species from an extensive area between western Morocco and eastern Afghanistan and between Romania and southern Syria were studied by a combination of...
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Published in | The Journal of eukaryotic microbiology Vol. 62; no. 5; pp. 670 - 678 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Society of Protozoologists
01.09.2015
Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | A complex wide‐range study on the haemoproteid parasites of chelonians was carried out for the first time. Altogether, 811 samples from four tortoise species from an extensive area between western Morocco and eastern Afghanistan and between Romania and southern Syria were studied by a combination of microscopic and molecular‐genetic methods. Altogether 160 Haemoproteus‐positive samples were gathered in the area between central Anatolia and eastern Afghanistan. According to variability in the cytochrome b gene, two monophyletic evolutionary lineages were distinguished; by means of microscopic analysis it was revealed that they corresponded to two previously described species—Haemoproteus anatolicum and Haemoproteus caucasica. Their distribution areas overlap only in a narrow strip along the Zagros Mts. range in Iran. This fact suggests the involvement of two different vector species with separated distribution. Nevertheless, no vectors were confirmed. According to phylogenetic analyses, H. caucasica represented a sister group to H. anatolicum, and both of them were most closely related to H. pacayae and H. peltocephali, described from South American river turtles. Four unique haplotypes were revealed in the population of H. caucasica, compared with seven haplotypes in H. anatolicum. Furthermore, H. caucasica was detected in two tortoise species, Testudo graeca and Testudo horsfieldii, providing evidence that Haemoproteus is not strictly host‐specific to the tortoise host species. |
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Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jeu.12227 Table S1. List of taxa used in phylogenetic analyses. Taxonomic groups: AV = Aves, MAM = Mammalia, REP = Reptilia; Geographic origin: AF = Afghanistan; GE = Georgia; IR = Iran; TR = Turkey; na = data not available. List S1. Additional sampled localities and tortoises which we found negative for Haemoproteus (n = number of examined tortoises). Figure S1. BI tree under the GTR + Γ + I model showing alternative topology of Plasmodium clade. Numbers at nodes shows posterior probabilities. istex:0C66AD4827A0E66A4FC0FA46CA303687B5E4F788 ark:/67375/WNG-VCFR4W02-C ArticleID:JEU12227 Czech Science Foundation - No. P506/11/1738 CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology European Regional Development Fund ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1066-5234 1550-7408 |
DOI: | 10.1111/jeu.12227 |