对顶端海洋捕食者的寄生虫进行适当的诊断对于了解其生物多样性至关重要,宿主特异性,生物地理学,和生命周期。这样的诊断还提供了宿主和宿主及其寄生虫生活的环境的生态和生物学特征的信息。我们在这里(i)研究了钝鼻六头鲨Hexanchusgriseus(Bonnaterre,1788)从那不勒斯湾(第勒尼安海)获得,(ii)在分子上表征其所有后生寄生虫,和(iii)复活并报告主要形态特征和系统发育位置。一种节食动物,以前与腺样体同义。发现了由八个不同分类单元代表的丰富的寄生虫动物群,包括两个单基因(Protocotylegrisea和Protocotyletaschenbergi),一个双生(耳孔),四个节食(Crossobothriumdohrnii,Clistobothriumsp.,G.棘花,和G.腺样体),和一个co足类(原指pamelae)。对这些样品进行测序是一个重要的分子基线,可以扩大对全球钝鼻六吉尔鲨寄生动物的认识,并重建其正确的食物链。钝鼻六吉尔鲨被发现是这里发现的所有体内寄生虫的确定宿主,确认它在地中海处于最高营养水平。营养性寄生虫动物区系的分类群组成证实,钝鼻六脊鲨主要以硬骨鱼为食。然而,两个phillobothridcestodes的发生(C.dohrnii和Clistobothriumsp.)表明它也以鱿鱼为食。最后,我们强调在研究来自确定宿主和中间宿主的寄生虫时使用综合分类学方法的重要性,以阐明在地中海普遍未研究的分类群的生物学和生态学。
Appropriate diagnoses of parasites of apex marine predators are crucial to understand their biodiversity, host specificity, biogeography, and life cycles. Such diagnoses are also informative of ecological and biological characteristics of both host and environment in which the hosts and their parasites live. We here (i) investigate the parasite fauna of a bluntnose sixgill shark Hexanchus griseus (Bonnaterre, 1788) obtained from the Gulf of Naples (Tyrrhenian Sea), (ii) characterize molecularly all its metazoan parasites, and (iii) resurrect and report the main morphological features and phylogenetic position of Grillotia acanthoscolex, a cestode species previously synonymized with Grillotia adenoplusia. A rich parasite fauna represented by eight different taxa was found, including two monogeneans (Protocotyle grisea and Protocotyle taschenbergi), one digenean (Otodistomum veliporum), four
cestodes (Crossobothrium dohrnii, Clistobothrium sp., G. acanthoscolex, and G. adenoplusia), and one copepod (Protodactylina pamelae). Sequencing of these samples accounts for an important molecular baseline to widen the knowledge on the parasitic fauna of bluntnose sixgill sharks worldwide and to reconstruct their correct food chains. The bluntnose sixgill shark was found to be a definitive host for all endoparasites found here, confirming that it occupies an apex trophic level in the Mediterranean Sea. The taxa composition of the trophic parasite fauna confirms that the bluntnose sixgill shark mostly feeds on teleost fish species. However, the occurrence of two phillobothrid
cestodes (C. dohrnii and Clistobothrium sp.) suggests that it also feeds on squids. Finally, we emphasize the importance of using integrative taxonomic approaches in the study of parasites from definitive and intermediate hosts to elucidate biology and ecology of taxa generally understudied in the Mediterranean Sea.