TY - JOUR
T1 - First record of the mermithid nematode worm Isomermis lairdi parasitizing black flies in Spain
AU - Ruiz-Arrondo, Ignacio
AU - Arcos, Susana C.
AU - González, Mikel A.
AU - Mejías-Ortiz, Miguel
AU - Hernando, Oscar Soriano
AU - Oteo, José Antonio
AU - Parreira, Ricardo
AU - Navas, Alfonso
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. We acknowledge the bioinformatics infrastructure of the Global Health and Tropical Medicine Center, which is funded through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia contract UID/04413/2020.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - Mermithid nematodes are considered a promising biological control agent to reduce the population density of different blood-feeding vectors, i.e. black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae), which are important pests of medical and veterinary interest worldwide. Immature larvae of black flies were collected in a rill from La Rioja (Northern Spain) in the summer of 2016. Isomermis lairdi Mondet, Poinar & Bernadou, 1977 (Nematoda: Mermithidae) was found parasitizing eleven specimens of Simulium cryophilum s.l. (Rubtsov, 1959) (prevalence of 52%), which represent the first record of this nematode for Spain and the second for Europe. The confirmation of the nematode and the black fly species was carried out by both morphological and molecular approaches using the 18S ribosomal RNA and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I genes. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the collected specimens were Isomermis lairdi (99.4–99.9% identity with homologues from Africa) with a sequence divergence of 0.2%. The role of Isomermis lairdi as an alternative tool in the biological control of black flies in Spain should be further explored.
AB - Mermithid nematodes are considered a promising biological control agent to reduce the population density of different blood-feeding vectors, i.e. black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae), which are important pests of medical and veterinary interest worldwide. Immature larvae of black flies were collected in a rill from La Rioja (Northern Spain) in the summer of 2016. Isomermis lairdi Mondet, Poinar & Bernadou, 1977 (Nematoda: Mermithidae) was found parasitizing eleven specimens of Simulium cryophilum s.l. (Rubtsov, 1959) (prevalence of 52%), which represent the first record of this nematode for Spain and the second for Europe. The confirmation of the nematode and the black fly species was carried out by both morphological and molecular approaches using the 18S ribosomal RNA and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I genes. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the collected specimens were Isomermis lairdi (99.4–99.9% identity with homologues from Africa) with a sequence divergence of 0.2%. The role of Isomermis lairdi as an alternative tool in the biological control of black flies in Spain should be further explored.
KW - 18S rRNA gen
KW - Biological control
KW - COI gen, Simuliidae
KW - Parasitism
KW - Simulium cryophilum s.l.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141542720&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.vprsr.2022.100805
DO - 10.1016/j.vprsr.2022.100805
M3 - Article
C2 - 36436898
AN - SCOPUS:85141542720
SN - 0304-4017
VL - 36
JO - Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports
JF - Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports
M1 - 100805
ER -
