New data on two remarkable Antarctic species Amblydorylaimusisokaryon (Loof, 1975) Andrassy, 1998 and Pararhyssocolpusparadoxus (Loof, 1975), gen. n., comb. n. (Nematoda, Dorylaimida)
Author
Elshishka, Milka
Author
Lazarova, Stela
Author
Radoslavov, Georgi
Author
Hristov, Petar
Author
Peneva, Vlada K.
text
ZooKeys
2015
511
25
68
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.511.9793
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.511.9793
1313-2970-511-25
89224AEDC82A4BE79C464C242CDF1B39
Taxon classification Animalia Dorylaimida Pararhyssocolpidae
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus (Loof, 1975)
gen. n., comb. n.
Figures 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Eudorylaimus
paradoxus
Loof, 1975
Rhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975)
Andrassy
, 1986
Material examined.
Eighteen females, seven males and ten juveniles (J1, J3, J4) collected from three islands in Maritime Antarctic (Table 1).
Measurements.
See Table 5.
Table 5. Morphometrics of
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
n.gen., n.comb. (adults, juveniles). All measurements, unless indicated otherwise, are in
µm
(and in the form: mean
+/-
SD (range).
Locality |
King George Island |
Livingston Island |
Nelson Island |
King George Island |
Characters |
KGI1 |
CDM |
S |
SDC |
DM |
M |
KGI1 |
Description
.
Female. Habitus curved ventrad after fixation, more so in posterior body end. Cuticle smooth, when viewed under light microscope, 3-4
µm
thick in postlabial region, 5-7
µm
at mid-body and 4-7
µm
on tail; consisting of three layers the inner one much ticker and refractive, not reaching the end of tail. Under SEM it is finely transversally striated (annules ca 0.6
µm
wide). Lip region appears rounded, slightly offset by a depression, 2.3-3.4 times as broad as high, lips amalgamated, outer labial and cephalic papillae protruding above lip region contour. Under SEM inner labial papillae not elevated, close to each other and to oral aperture, outer labial and cephalic papillae below the margin of oral field. Oral aperture seems round hexagonal. Lateral pores well visible (13-14 in the pharyngeal region), the first four as two pairs at the anterior end, next more or less equally spaced. Cheilostom a truncate cone. Amphidial fovea funnel-shaped, opening at level of labial depression, its aperture about half of lip region diam. Odontostyle slender, with clear lumen, aperture subterminal, narrow (Figure 22 B) and indistinct as observed by LM in adults (Figures 18
A-C
, 19B, 21F); 8-12 times longer than wide, 0.9-1.0 lip region diam. long. Odontophore simple, 1.9-2.3 times odontostyle length long. Guiding ring double, situated at 0.7-0.8 times lip region diam. from anterior end. Nerve ring located at 151-178
µm
from anterior end or 32-38% of total neck length. Pharynx consisting of slender but muscular anterior section enlarging gradually and
"bibulbar"
(
Andrassy
, 1986), basal expansion with somewhat narrower middle part, 206-231
µm
long or 44-52% of total neck length (Figs 14A, 18D). Dorsal nucleus (DN) lying very close to anterior edge of pharyngeal expansion. One nucleus of anterior ventrosublateral pair of pharyngeal glands well visible, large, posterior pair of ventrosublateral nuclei slightly larger, nuclei located almost at one and the same level (pharyngeal characters presented in Table 6). Cardia conoid, measuring 28-39
x
14-19
µm
, cell mass near cardia present in some specimens. The posterior end of the intestine with tongue-like projection. Prerectum short, 2-4 times, rectum 1.3-1.8 anal body diam. long. Distinct sphincter at prerectum and rectum junction. Genital system didelphic-amphidelphic, with both branches equally and well developed, anterior 450.5
+/-
21.3 (422-478)
µm
, posterior 463.8
+/-
37.9 (404-531)
µm
long, respectively. Ovaries usually large, oviduct consisting of a tubular part and well developed pars dilatata. Sphincter between oviduct and uterus moderately developed. Uterus long (anterior 220-307
µm
, posterior 222.5-356
µm
long, respectively), bipartite, consists of a wider proximal part followed by narrower distal part surrounded by large hyaline cells. Uteri contain sperm. Vagina extending inwards for 55-74% of body diameter, pars proximalis 35-50
x
22-30
µm
, with straight walls, pars refringens (in lateral view) consisting of two massive trapezoidal separate sclerotised pieces with a combined width of 18-21
µm
, pars distalis 8.5-12
µm
long. Vulva a transverse slit; under SEM vulval lips spindle shaped, irregularities and ruptures of body cuticle present on both sides of vulva. Lateral vulval flaps absent. In two females uterine eggs observed, measuring 133-148
x
68.5-77
µm
. Tail conical, ventrally arcuate, distal part offset, tip finger-like, sharply pointed. Three pairs of caudal pores.
Table 6. Pharyngeal characters of
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
gen. n., n.comb. For abbreviations see
Loof and Coomans (1970)
and
Andrassy
(1998b)
.
Locality |
King George Island |
Livingston Island |
Characters |
KGI1 |
CDM |
DM |
1 |
11 |
12 |
2 |
21 |
22 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
Males. General morphology similar to that of female, except for the genital system. Arrangement of pharyngeal gland nuclei presented at Table 6. Genital system
diorchic
, testes opposed, anterior 318-474
µm
(n=3) and posterior 278-436
µm
(n=2) long, respectively. Spicules dorylaimid, stout, 1.7-2.6 cloacal body diam. long. Lateral guiding piece with triangular distal part, 19-24
µm
long. Sperm oval, measuring 5
-9x3-
4
µm
. Ventromedian supplements contiguous, 24-28 in number, preceded by one adcloacal pair of papillae located at 9-16
µm
distance from cloacal opening, out of spicules range; a series of well developed subventral spaced papillae (
Jairajpuri and Ahmad 1992
) in number 11-18 observed. Post-cloacal papilla present. Tail compared to that in female with narrower finger like tip. Three pairs of caudal pores.
Juveniles. Comparison of length of functional and replacement odontostyle and body length yielded in identification of three juvenile stages (second stage juvenile not found). The tail in J1 elongated, sigmoid, in J3 tail elongate with long hyaline extension, ventrally arcuate, sometimes slightly sigmoid, sharply tipped; in J4 ventrally arcuate with gradually tapering distal part,
c'
decreases during successive stages to females (Table 5).
Figure 14.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n., comb. n. A, B,
D-FFemale
: A Pharyngeal region (KGI) B Anterior region (KGI) D Posterior genital branch (LI, DM) E Posterior end (KGI) F Tongue like projection (KGI) Male (LI, DM): C Pharyngeal expansion. Scale bar: 50
µm
(
A-F
).
Figure 15.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975) gen. n., comb. n. Female:
A-C
Vulval region (KGI)
D-F
Tail ends (D, E KGI; F LI, DM). Scale bar: 50
µm
(
A-F
).
Figure 16.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n., comb. n. Male: A Anterior region (LI, DM) B Tail end (KGI) C Lateral guiding piece (KGI). Scale bar: 50
µm
(
A-C
).
Figure 17.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n., comb. n. Juveniles (KGI):
A-E
Lip region of A J1 B, C J3 D, E J4
F-J
Tail end of F J1 G, H J3 I, J J4. Scale bar: 50
µm
(
A-J
).
Figure 18.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n., comb. n. Female:
A-C
Anterior region (A KGI; B LI, DM; C NI) D Pharyngeal expansion, cardia (KGI) E Amphidial fovea (KGI) F Entire body (KGI) G Sphincter between uterus and pars dilatata oviductus (KGI) H Anterior genital branch (KGI) I, J Vulval region (KGI) K Irregularities around vulva (KGI). Scale bars: 10
µm
(
A-C
, G,
I-K
); 50
µm
(D, H); 6
µm
(E); 200
µm
(F).
Figure 19.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n., comb. n. Male: A Pharyngeal region (LI, CDM) B, C Anterior end (B KGI; C LI, DM) D Entire body (KGI) E Sperm (KGI) F Posterior testis (KGI) G, I Spicules (KGI) H Lateral guiding piece (KGI) J Ventromedian supplements (KGI) K Subventral papillae marked by arrows (KGI). Scale bars: 50
µm
(A, F); 10
µm
(B, C, E, G, H); 200
µm
(D); 20
µm
(
I-K
).
Figure 20.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), comb. n.
A-CFemale
:
A-C
Tail ends (A KGI; B LI, DM; C NI).
D-FMale
: D Posterior end (KGI) E, F Tail ends (E CDM, LI; F KGI). Scale bars: 10
µm
(
A-C
, E, F); 50
µm
(D).
Figure 21.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), comb. n.
A-E
,
G-IJuveniles
(KGI):
A-E
Lip region of A J1 B, C J3 D, E J4
G-I
Tail end of G, H J3 I J4. F, JFemale: (KGI): F Lip region J Tail end. Scale bars: 6
µm
(A); 10
µm
(
B-J
).
Figure 22. SEM micrographs.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), comb. n.
A-H
, JFemale:
A-D
Lip region (A Sublateral view (NI); B Lateral view (NI); C, D (LI) In face view) E Vulval region (NI) F Cuticle striations (NI) G, H Vulval region, irregularities around vulva, lateral body pores marked by arrows (NI) J Tail end (LI) I,
K-M
Male (LI): I Posterior end, lateral view K Tail end L Cloaca M Ventromedian supplements and subventral papillae (marked by arrows). Scale bars: 5
µm
(A, B, D); 10
µm
(C, G, H, J, L, M); 50
µm
(I); 20
µm
(K); 2
µm
(E); 1
µm
(F).
Figure 23.
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), comb. n. Scatter plot of the functional (●) and replacement odontostyle (▲) in relation to the body length of the juvenile stages and adults: females (▲) and males (▲).
Figure 24. Hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships of
Amblydorylaimus isokaryon
(Loof, 1975) and
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n. comb. n. based on 18S rDNA (61 sequences) inferred from a Bayesian analysis using GTR+G model and
Coomansus gerlachei
(de Man, 1904) for rooting the tree. Posterior probabilities higher than 0.8 are presented.
Figure 25. Hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships of
Amblydorylaimus isokaryon
(Loof, 1975) and
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n. comb. n. based on 18S rDNA of closest species (17 sequences) inferred from a Bayesian analysis using GTR+G model and midpoint rooting of the tree. Posterior probabilities higher than 0.8 are presented. Species coloured according the classification of
Andrassy
(2009a)
and
Pena-Santiago
and
Alvarez-Ortega
(2014)
: dark blue - fam.
Aporcelaimidae
, light blue - fam.
Actinolaimidae
, green - fam.
Dorylaimidae
, red - fam.
Qudsianematidae
.
Figure 26. Hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships of
Amblydorylaimus isokaryon
(Loof, 1975) and
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
(Loof, 1975), gen. n. comb. n. based on 28S rDNA D2-D3 inferred from a Bayesian analysis using GTR+G model and midpoint rooting of the tree. Posterior probabilities higher than 0.8 are presented. Species coloured according the classification of
Andrassy
(2009a)
and
Pena-Santiago
and
Alvarez-Ortega
(2014)
: dark blue - fam.
Aporcelaimidae
, light blue - fam.
Actinolaimidae
, dark green - fam.
Dorylaimidae
, light green - fam.
Thornenematidae
, red - fam.
Qudsianematidae
, yellow - fam.
Swangeriidae
, violet - fam.
Belondiridae
. *For abbreviations of localities see Table 1
Sequence and phylogenetic analyses.
The BLAST search using D2-D3 region sequence of
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
gen. n., comb. n. showed highest similarity (93%) to the sequences of several
Opisthodorylaimus sylphoides
(Williams, 1959) Carbonell & Coomans, 1985 clones and
Prodorylaimus
sp. (AY593008-10, EF207241,
Holterman et al. 2008
). The 18S rDNA sequence showed 99% similarity to several dorylaimid
species
belonging to different families including
Amblydorylaimus isokaryon
, and various
Aporcelaimellus
spp. The hypothesis testing using closely and more distantly related 18S rDNA sequences (Figure 24) revealed distant relationship of
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
gen. n., comb. n. to the only available sequences of
Rhyssocolpus
Andrassy
, 1971 (
Rhyssocolpus vinciguerrae
Pedram, Pourjam, Robbins, Ye,
Pena-Santiago
, 2011, Figure 4) (fam.
Nordiidae
) and
Eudorylaimus
Andrassy
, 1959 (two
Eudorylaimus
spp.) (fam.
Qudsianematidae
). The ambiguous position of both
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
gen. n., comb. n. and
Amblydorylaimus isokaryon
could be a result of the low resolution of the SSU rDNA, non-monophyly of these four families and/or probably incorrect species identifications. The majority of the nematode sequences belonging to the superfamily
Dorylaimoidea
de Man, 1876 available at the GenBank have no morphological and metrical data and their identification is questionable.
In an additional analysis using the most closely related sequences performed in order to clarify the possible evolutionary relationships of
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
gen. n., comb. n. (Figure 25): it clustered into the same clade with
Amblydorylaimus isokaryon
and some other species of the families
Qudsianematidae
,
Dorylaimidae
and
Aporcelaimidae
. Further, in the 28S rDNA-based phylogenetic tree
Pararhyssocolpus paradoxus
gen. n., comb. n. grouped with species belonging to different families (Figure 26) and no close relationships to any of them were revealed.
Discussion.
The specimens examined generally agree well with data reported for this species, although some differences occurred: lip region offset by slight depression vs deep depression; vulva transverse vs "probably pore-like rather than transverse", smaller DN-DO distance (0.5-1 vs 1.6-3.4%) (
Loof 1975
). Further, the distinct sphincter at prerectum/rectum junction, tongue-like structure at the posterior end of intestine and subventral papillae in male were not mentioned in the original description.
Originally
this species was attributed to family
Qudsianematidae
.
Loof (1975)
placed it in
Eudorylaimus
, because of widened near the middle pharynx and numerous ventromedian supplements. Nevertheless, he reported that it showed several characters close to
Rhyssocolpus
(shape of lip region, short odontostyle, and wrinkled cuticle near vulva, although he regarded the last one a not generic rank character). Subsequently
Andrassy
(1986)
included it in family
Nordiidae
(genus
Rhyssocolpus
) ignoring the characters in which this species differs from the other members of genus
Rhyssocolpus
e.g. the greater number of contiguous ventromedian supplements and specific shape of pharyngeal expansion. Again,
Loof (1988)
reported that many features of this species (numerous and contiguous supplements, pharyngeal expansion at about half pharynx length, DN lying at about 60% of pharynx, distinct first pair of ventrosublateral pharyngeal glands) conflicted with the diagnosis of
Rhyssocolpus
and continued to regard this Antarctic species as a member of
Eudorylaimus
(
Qudsianematidae
). Very recently,
Pena-Santiago
et al. (2015)
provided a revised taxonomy of the genus
Rhyssocolpus
and proposed
Rhyssocolpus paradoxus
be retained under
Eudorylaimus
. However, it differs from the latter genus by the arrangement of ventromedian supplements in males (contiguous vs
spaced
), double vs single guiding ring, slender vs wider odontostyle and specific shape of pharyngeal expansion.
Recent molecular studies (
Holterman et al. 2008
;
Pedram et al. 2011
;
Pena-Santiago
et al. 2015
) as well as our molecular data inferred from the analysis of 18S and D2-D3 expansion segments of the 28S rDNA, showed that this genus could not be assigned to any known
Dorylaimoidea
family.
With
considering the differences discussed above, as well as molecular data, the herein studied species cannot be regarded either as a member of the genus
Rhyssocolpus
or the genus
Eudorylaimus
and their attributed families, consequently a new genus
Pararhyssocolpus
gen. n., and a new family
Pararhyssocolpidae
fam. n. are proposed to accommodate this species.