Molecular phylogeny of the Bothriocephalidea (Cestoda): molecular data challenge morphological classification

In this study, the relationships of the cestode order Bothriocephalidea, parasites of marine and freshwater bony fish, were assessed using multi-gene molecular phylogenetic analyses. The dataset included 59 species, covering approximately 70% of currently recognised genera, a sample of bothriocephalidean biodiversity gathered through an intense 15year effort. The order as currently circumscribed, while monophyletic, includes three non-monophyletic and one monophyletic families. Bothriocephalidae is monophyletic and forms the most derived lineage of the order, comprised of a single freshwater and several marine clades. Biogeographic patterns within the freshwater clade are indicative of past radiations having occurred in Africa and North America. The earliest diverging lineages of the order comprise a paraphyletic Triaenophoridae. The Echinophallidae, consisting nearly exclusively of parasites of pelagic fish, was also resolved as paraphyletic with respect to the Bothriocephalidae. Philobythoides sp., the only representative included from the Philobythiidae, a unique family of parasites of bathypelagic fish, was sister to the genus Eubothrium, the latter constituting one of the lineages of the paraphyletic Triaenophoridae. Due to the weak statistical support for most of the basal nodes of the Triaenophoridae and Echinophallidae, as well as the lack of obvious morphological synapomorphies shared by taxa belonging to the statistically well-supported lineages, the current family-level classification, although mostly non-monophyletic, is provisionally retained, with the exception of the family Philobythiidae, which is recognised as a synonym of the Triaenophoridae. In addition, Schyzocotyle is resurrected to accommodate the invasive Asian fish tapeworm, Schyzocotyle acheilognathi (Yamaguti, 1934) n. comb. (syn. Bothriocephalus acheilognathi Yamaguti, 1934), which is of veterinary importance, and Schyzocotyle nayarensis (Malhotra, 1983) n. comb. (syn. Ptychobothrium nayarensis Malhotra, 1983). The genus is morphologically characterised by a wide, heart-shaped scolex with narrow, deep bothria.