Contributions to Zoology, 84 (1) 25-38 (2015) Ancyrocephalidae (Monogenea) of Lake Tanganyika: Does the Cichlidogyrus parasite fauna of Interochromis loocki (Teleostei, Cichlidae) reflect its host’s phylogenetic affinities? Antoine Pariselle1, 2, Maarten Van Steenberge3, 4, Jos Snoeks3, 4, Filip A.M. Volckaert3, Tine Huyse3, 4, Maarten P.M. Vanhove3, 4, 5, 6, 7 1 Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution, IRD-CNRS-Université Montpellier 2, CC 063, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France 2 Present address: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, ISE-M, B.P. 1857, Yaoundé, Cameroon 3 Biology Department, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium 4 Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics, Department of Biology, University of Leuven, Charles Debériotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium 5 Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech Republic 6 Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 46.7 km Athens- Sounio Avenue, PO Box 712, Anavyssos GR-190 13, Greece 7 E-mail: [email protected] Key words: Africa, Dactylogyridea, Petrochromis, Platyhelminthes, species description, Tropheini Abstract Contents The faunal diversity of Lake Tanganyika, with its fish species Introduction ....................................................................................... 25 flocks and its importance as a cradle and reservoir of ancient Material and methods ..................................................................... 27 fish lineages seeding other radiations, has generated a consider- Results ................................................................................................ 27 able scientific interest in the fields of evolution and biodiversity. Discussion ......................................................................................... 28 The Tropheini, an endemic Tanganyikan cichlid tribe, fills a Acknowledgements ......................................................................... 29 peculiar phylogenetic position, being closely related to the References ......................................................................................... 30 haplochromine radiations of Lakes Malawi and Victoria. Sev- Appendix ........................................................................................... 33 eral problems remain regarding their genus-level classification. For example, the monotypic genus Interochromis is phyloge- netically nested within Petrochromis; its only representative, I. Introduction loocki, has often been reclassified. As monogenean flatworms are useful markers for fish phylogeny and taxonomy, the mono- genean fauna of Interochromis loocki was examined and com- Lake Tanganyika is, with an estimated age of 9-12 million pared to that of other tropheine cichlids. Three new monoge- years (Cohen et al., 1997), the oldest of the East African nean species belonging to Cichlidogyrus are described from Great Lakes. Although less species-rich than Lakes Interochromis loocki: Cichlidogyrus buescheri Pariselle and Victoria and Malawi, its 250 endemic cichlids form the Vanhove, sp. nov., Cichlidogyrus schreyenbrichardorum Pari- morphologically, behaviourally and phylogenetically selle and Vanhove, sp. nov. and Cichlidogyrus vealli Pariselle and Vanhove, sp. nov. Their haptoral anchors remind more of most diverse lacustrine cichlid fauna (Snoeks, 2000) congeners infecting species of Petrochromis than of all Cichli­ which acted as an evolutionary reservoir from which dogyrus spp. hitherto described from other tropheine cichlids. other lineages evolved (Salzburger et al., 2005). The Attachment organ morphology has been proven to mirror the lake’s cichlids are grouped into 14 to 17 tribes (Poll, 1986; phylogenetic affinities of Cichlidogyrus lineages. Therefore the Takahashi, 2003; Koblmüller et al., 2008). One of these monogenean parasite fauna of I. loocki reflects this host’s posi- tribes, the Tropheini, is nested within the haplochro- tion within Petrochromis. Moreover, I. loocki differs in habitat choice from Petrochromis spp. This study hence confirms that mines, which contains the mega-diverse cichlid flocks host range and host-specificity in Cichlidogyrus spp. parasitiz- of Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria (Salzburger et al., ing tropheines is determined by the host’s phylogenetic position, 2005). In comparison to these radiations, tropheines are rather than by a shared ecological niche. relatively species-poor, as they currently only comprise Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 02:36:39PM via free access 26 Pariselle et al. – Cichlidogyrus monogenean parasites of the cichlid Interochromis loocki 24 species classified in nine genera (Poll, 1986; Taka- The main difference between Interochromis and hashi, 2003; Takahashi and Koblmüller, 2014). Petrochromis is that the outer oral teeth of I. loocki are Traditionally, generic definitions of Lake Tanganyika bicuspid, whereas species belonging to the latter genus cichlids are largely based on oral tooth morphology (Poll, have tricuspid outer teeth. The similarity in diet between 1986). For many tribes, this has proven to be an over- I. loocki and Petrochromis spp. was also observed after simplification (Sturmbauer et al., 2010). Yet, in tropheine stomach analyses (Muschick et al. 2012). Konings cichlids, phylogenetic reconstructions to a large extent (1998) observed that juvenile I. loocki collect algae from support the grouping of species based on similarities in plants, just as Petrochromis species collect these from oral morphology (Koblmüller et al. 2010; Van Steen- rocks. Interochromis and Petrochromis were also shown berge, 2014). One tropheine species, Interochromis to be closely related in a nuclear phylogeny of Tro- loocki (Poll, 1949), has, however, been particularly dif- pheini (Koblmüller et al. 2010). Here, I. loocki rendered ficult to classify and its generic placement has changed Petrochromis paraphyletic as it was sister to two Petro­ frequently. chromis species: P. orthognathus Matthes, 1959 and P. Interochromis loocki was described based on 13 fasciolatus Boulenger, 1914. This is in agreement with specimens collected at Kigoma (Tanzania) (type local- Yamaoka (1997), who described the feeding behaviour ity) and Kalemie (Democratic Republic of Congo). Poll of different Petrochromis species and who noticed the (1949) originally described the species as belonging to similarity between these two Petrochromis species and Limnotilapia Regan, 1920, which he considered to rep- I. loocki. resent a ‘limnetic’ form of Tilapia Smith 1840. The In this study, we explore another perspective with species was later transferred to Simochromis Boulenger, regard to the question of the relationships of I. loocki. 1898 when Greenwood (1978) synonymised Limnotila- To this end, we investigate the monogenean gill parasite pia with Simochromis. This decision was motivated in fauna infecting this species. Monogenean flatworms a subsequent paper in which Greenwood (1979) stated exhibit considerable potential for improving our under- that, although the type species of both genera, S. dia- standing of their hosts’ biogeography, phylogeny and gramma (Günther, 1894) and L. dardennii (Boulenger, taxonomy (Guégan and Lambert, 1990, Paugy et al., 1899), differ greatly in osteological characters, I. loocki 1990; Pariselle, 1996; Boeger and Kritsky, 2003; Barson is intermediate between the two. Poll (1986) resurrected et al., 2010; Pariselle et al., 2011; Vanhove, 2012; Van- Limnotilapia; yet, as he did not refute Greenwood’s hove et al., 2013, 2014). Given their simple single-host (1979) observations, I. loocki remained in Simochromis. lifecycle, high species diversity and relatively high host- This was justified as Poll (1986) considered I. loocki specificity, these flatworms are good markers for closer to Simochromis than to Limnotilapia. Moreover, studying biodiversity and speciation in groups of he claimed that the osteological similarities between closely related fishes (Pariselle et al., 2003b). The most both genera were also shared with other representatives species-rich genus on African cichlids is Cichlidogyrus of the Tropheini (Poll, 1986). Paperna, 1960 (Pariselle and Euzet, 2009). This genus Interochromis Yamaoka, Hori and Kuwamura, 1998 is usually considered a member of the Ancyrocephalidae, was erected by Yamaoka et al. (1998) as a monotypic although studies have suggested the group to be non- genus to harbour I. loocki. The reason for describing the monophyletic. In that case its representatives should be genus was based on the morphological and ecological considered to belong to the Dactylogyridae (Kritsky and similarities between I. loocki and species of Petro- Boeger, 1989; Šimková et al., 2003, 2006; Plaisance et chromis Boulenger, 1898 (Yamaoka et al., 1998) and the al., 2005). Cichlidogyrus spp. are common parasites of differences between I. loocki and species of Simo- Tanganyikan cichlids (Vanhove et al., 2011a; Raeymae­ chromis. Yamaoka et al. (1998) argued that, whereas kers et al., 2013); thirteen new species have recently been members of Tropheus Boulenger, 1898, Simochromis, described from Lake Tanganyika (Vanhove et al., 2011b; Pseudosimochromis Nelissen, 1977 and Limnotilapia Gillardin et al., 2012; Muterezi Bukinga et al., 2012; are browsers that use their firmly set teeth to cut of Pariselle et al., 2014). strands of filamentous algae, Interochromis