Molecular phylogeny of the families Campulidae and Nasitrematidae (Trematoda) based on mtDNA sequence comparison

Historically, the systematic arrangement of the genera within the family Campulidae, and its relationship with its allied family Nasitrematidae have been rather confused, particularly because only adult morphology has been available to classical taxonomic analysis. In this paper we provide a partial phylogeny of the genera of these families based on mtDNA from five campulid species: Campula oblonga, Zalophotrema atlanticum, Hadwenius tursionis, Oschmarinella rochebruni and Orthosplanchnus fraterculus; and one nasitrematid, Nasitrema globicephalae. Fasciola hepatica and Dicrocoelium dendriticum were used as outgroups. Maximum parsimony and neighbour-joining methods were applied. Both methods produced similar trees where H. tursionis appeared as the basal campulid, with a sequential divergence of Z. atlanticum, N. globicephalae, C. oblonga, O. rochebruni and O. fraterculus. Results suggest that Nasitrematidae as defined should loose its familial status and the current subfamilial division of the family Campulidae is at least partly artificial and should not be maintained.