Niels Van Steenkiste

New primers for DNA barcoding of digeneans and cestodes (Platyhelminthes)

Digeneans and cestodes are species‐rich taxa and can seriously impact human health, fisheries, aqua‐ and agriculture, and wildlife conservation and management. DNA barcoding using the COI Folmer region could be applied for species detection and identification, but both ‘universal’ and taxon‐specific COI primers fail to amplify in many flatworm taxa. We found that high levels of nucleotide variation at priming sites made it unrealistic to design primers targeting all flatworms. We developed new degenerate primers that enabled acquisition of the COI barcode region from 100% of specimens tested (n = 46), representing 23 families of digeneans and 6 orders of cestodes. This high success rate represents an improvement over existing methods. Primers and methods provided here are critical pieces towards redressing the current paucity of COI barcodes for these taxa in public databases.

A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of dalytyphloplanida (platyhelminthes: rhabdocoela) reveals multiple escapes from the marine environment and origins of symbiotic relationships.

In this study we elaborate the phylogeny of Dalytyphloplanida based on complete 18S rDNA (156 sequences) and partial 28S rDNA (125 sequences), using a Maximum Likelihood and a Bayesian Inference approach, in order to investigate the origin of a limnic or limnoterrestrial and of a symbiotic lifestyle in this large group of rhabditophoran flatworms. The results of our phylogenetic analyses and ancestral state reconstructions indicate that dalytyphloplanids have their origin in the marine environment and that there was one highly successful invasion of the freshwater environment, leading to a large radiation of limnic and limnoterrestrial dalytyphloplanids. This monophyletic freshwater clade, Limnotyphloplanida, comprises the taxa Dalyelliidae, Temnocephalida, and most Typhloplanidae. Temnocephalida can be considered ectosymbiotic Dalyelliidae as they are embedded within this group. Secondary returns to brackish water and marine environments occurred relatively frequently in several dalyeliid and typhloplanid taxa. Our phylogenies also show that, apart from the Limnotyphloplanida, there have been only few independent invasions of the limnic environment, and apparently these were not followed by spectacular speciation events. The distinct phylogenetic positions of the symbiotic taxa also suggest multiple origins of commensal and parasitic life strategies within Dalytyphloplanida. The previously established higher-level dalytyphloplanid clades are confirmed in our topologies, but many of the traditional families are not monophyletic. Alternative hypothesis testing constraining the monophyly of these families in the topologies and using the approximately unbiased test, also statistically rejects their monophyly.

Bryoplana xerophila n. g. n. sp., a new limnoterrestrial microturbellarian (Platyhelminthes, Typhloplanidae, Protoplanellinae) from epilithic mosses, with notes on its ecology

Bryoplana xerophila, a new genus and species of limnoterrestrial protoplanelline platyhelminth, was found in moss and soil covering a concrete wall in northern Alabama, USA. Bryoplana xerophila is the first taxon of limnoterrestrial Protoplanellinae recorded from North America and is one of the few rhabdocoels known from dry habitats. It is unique within Protoplanellinae in lacking rhabdites, having a pharynx rosulatus in the frontal half of the body, and lacking sclerotized parts in the male system. Notes on encystment, reproduction and feeding behavior are given. An updated identification key to all known genera of Protoplanellinae is presented.

Freshwater Dalyelliidae from the Nearctic (Platyhelminthes, Rhabdocoela): new taxa and records from Ontario, Canada and Michigan and Alabama, USA

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Kalyptorhynchia (Platyhelminthes: Rhabdocoela) from KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), with the description of six new species

Fifteen species of kalyptorhynch flatworms, twelve of them eukalyptorhynchs and three schizorhynchs, are reported from the KwaZulu-Natal coast in South Africa. Six species are new to science, five of which belong to Eukalyptorhynchia, the remaining one to Schizorhynchia. One of the new eukalyptorhynch species, Uncinorhynchus linusi n. sp., belongs to the taxon Gnathorhynchidae Meixner, 1929 and can be distinguished from other species of Uncinorhynchus Karling, 1947 based on the detailed structure of the proboscis hooks and the hard part in the male genital system. Two other species are members of the Koinocystididae Meixner, 1924. Itaipusa sbui n. sp. is characterised by an armed cirrus with two transversal bands of lamellar spines and by the detailed structure of the female genital system. The other new koinocystidid cannot be placed in any existing taxon and therefore a new genus is erected: Bhambathorhynchus abursalis n. gen. n. sp. It is characterised by the presence of two bent hooks in the male system, each one connected to a muscular bulb, and by the absence of a copulatory bursa. The remaining two new species of Eukalyptorhynchia, Lagenopolycystis mandelai n. sp. and Phonorhynchoides gondwanae n. sp., are members of the taxon Polycystididae Graff, 1905 and can be distinguished from their respective congeners by the detailed structure of their hard parts in the male genital system. The latter species also occurs on the Indian subcontinent. The discussion on the phylogenetic position of the new species of Phonorhynchoides leads to the formal split of this non-monophyletic genus into two taxa: Phonorhynchoides Beklemischev, 1927 and Phonorhynchopsis n. gen. The sixth and last new species, Baltoplana cupressus n. sp., is a member of the taxon Cheliplanidae Schilke, 1970 (Schizorhynchia) and combines an armed cirrus with a single accessory cirrus in the copulatory organ. For two more species, Prognathorhynchus spec. and Carcharodorhynchus spec., the available material is inadequate for a formal description, but they are mentioned and illustrated to allow future recognition. Six known species, Pocillorhynchus spiroductus Schockaert, 1982, Duplacrorhynchus heyleni Artois & Schockaert, 1999, Gyratrix hermaphroditus Ehrenberg, 1831, Paulodora contortoides Artois & Tessens, 2008, P. drepanophora Artois & Tessens, 2008 and Cheliplana pileola Jouk & De Vocht, 1989 are reported from South Africa for the first time and additional remarks on their morphology are given. An additional species, Brachyrhynchoides oosterlyncki (Willems, Reygel & Artois, 2013) Willems, Reygel & Artois, 2013 was recently described from South Africa and India (see Artois et al., 2013b, 2013c), and is mentioned here for the sake of completeness.

Figure 4. Gieysztoria Choctaw N In Freshwater Dalyelliidae From The Nearctic (Platyhelminthes, Rhabdocoela): New Taxa And Records From Ontario, Canada And Michigan And Alabama, Usa

FIGURE 4. Gieysztoria choctaw n. sp. (A) Habitus from a substrate-attached, live animal, dorsal view. (B) Habitus from a swimming, live animal, dorsal view