Diversity, specificity and speciation in larval Diplostomidae (Platyhelminthes: Digenea) in the eyes of freshwater fish, as revealed by DNA barcodes.

Larvae (metacercariae) in some species of Diplostomidae (Platyhelminthes: Digenea) inhabit fish eyes and are difficult to identify to species based on morphology. DNA barcoding has clarified the diversity and life cycles of diplostomids in North America, Europe and Africa, but has seldom been used in parasites sampled in large numbers or at large spatial scales. Here, distance-based analysis of cytochrome c oxidase 1 barcodes and, in some specimens, internal transcribed spacer (ITS-1, 5.

Molecular and morphological evidence for the Holarctic distribution of Urogonimus macrostomus (Rudolphi, 1803) Monticelli, 1888 (Digenea: Leucochloridiidae).

Species of Urogonimus Monticelli, 1888 (Leucochloridiidae Poche, 1907) are difficult to distinguish using adult morphology, and their taxonomy has been repeatedly subjected to revision. Some Nearctic species have been regarded as synonymous with the Palearctic type species Urogonimus macrostomus (Rudolphi, 1803) Monticelli, 1888. This implies that U.

Linking larvae and adults of Apharyngostrigea cornu, Hysteromorpha triloba, and Alaria mustelae (Diplostomoidea: Digenea) using molecular data.

Because the taxonomy of trematodes is based on adults, the larval stages of most digeneans cannot be identified to species based on morphology alone. Molecular data provide a means of linking larval stages to known adults. We obtained sequences from the barcode region of cytochrome oxidase I (CO1) from adult and larval parasites of fish, frogs, birds, and mammals across North America.