Molecular phylogeny of the Cyathocotylidae (Digenea, Diplostomoidea) necessitates systematic changes and reveals a history of host and environment switches.

The Cyathocotylidae is a globally distributed family of digeneans parasitic as adults in fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals in both freshwater and marine environments. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of interrelationships among cyathocotylids is lacking with only a few species included in previous studies. We used sequences of the nuclear 28S rRNA gene to examine phylogenetic affinities of 11 newly sequenced taxa of cyathocotylids and the closely related family Brauninidae collected from fish, reptiles, birds, and dolphins from Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America and South America. This is the first study to provide sequence data from adult cyathocotylids parasitic in fish and reptiles. Our analyses demonstrated that the members of the genus (family Brauninidae) belong to the Cyathocotylidae, placing the Brauninidae into synonymy with the Cyathocotylidae. In addition, our DNA sequences supported the presence of a second species in the currently monotypic . Our phylogeny revealed that spp. from crocodilians belong to a separate genus (, previously proposed as a subgenus) and subfamily (Suchocyathocotylinae subfam. n.). Morphological study of supported its elevation to species as . The phylogeny did not support within the subfamily Cyathocotylinae; instead, formed a strongly supported clade with members of the subfamily Szidatiinae ( and ). Therefore, we transfer into the Szidatiinae. DNA sequence data revealed the potential presence of cryptic species reported under the name . Our phylogeny indicated at least two major host switching events in the evolutionary history of the subfamily Szidatiinae which likely resulted in the transition of these parasites from birds to fish and snakes. Likewise, the transition to dolphins by represents another major host switching event among the Cyathocotylidae. In addition, our phylogeny revealed more than a single transition between freshwater and marine environments demonstrated in our dataset by and some .