Water Research Group, Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa.
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, 1122 NE Boat Street, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA.
Parasit Vectors. 2019 Aug 1;12(1):387. doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3578-5.
Anilocra capensis Leach, 1818 is the only named species of Anilocra Leach, 1818 from South Africa. Anilocra is a large genus (> 40 species) with high levels of diversity reported from the Caribbean and Indo-West Pacific. Considering it is highly unlikely that all records of Anilocra from South Africa can be of a single species, the aim of this study was to better understand the diversity of Anilocra from this region and continent.
To redescribe A. capensis, the syntypes of A. capensis and specimens recorded as A. capensis from Africa were borrowed from the Natural History Museum, London, UK, and The iZiko South African Museum, Cape Town. Newly collected fresh samples of A. capensis were collected from off Cape Town, South Africa. Morphological redescriptions of the syntypes, and other museum and fresh material were conducted. Fresh samples were used to characterise molecularly A. capensis using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1).
Morphological analyses demonstrated that apart from A. capensis there are six Anilocra species new to science from Africa: Anilocra ianhudsoni n. sp., Anilocra bunkleywilliamsae n. sp., Anilocra paulsikkeli n. sp., Anilocra jovanasi n. sp., Anilocra angeladaviesae n. sp. and Anilocra hadfieldae n. sp. Of the species under study, specimens of A. capensis appear to demonstrate the most individual variation, which occurs in pleonite width, pleotelson form and uropod length. We determined that African species of Anilocra can be primarily differentiated by the proportional shape and size of the full body in dorsal view and pereonites 1, 6 and 7. Other defining morphological traits include proportional shape and size of the pereopods, and the antenna and antennula peduncles. Lastly, the molecular characterisation of A. capensis is provided and the interspecific divergence with Mediterranean species is smaller than that with Caribbean species.
The results of this study provide a detailed redescription of A. capensis and the first molecular barcode for this organism. Six new species of Anilocra from Africa are described, establishing that the diversity of Anilocra in this region is greater than previously known. With this new understanding of species differences, we can accurately conduct detailed molecular and ecological analyses of Anilocra from Africa with certainty of the organism under study.
安诺克拉虫属（Anilocra）是南非特有的唯一一种安诺克拉虫属物种。安诺克拉虫属是一个大型属（>40 种），在加勒比海和印度-西太平洋地区报道了很高的多样性。考虑到南非所有的安诺克拉虫属记录都不可能是单一物种，因此本研究的目的是更好地了解该地区和该大陆的安诺克拉虫属的多样性。
为了重新描述 A. capensis，从英国伦敦自然历史博物馆和南非开普敦 iZiko 南非博物馆借用了 A. capensis 的模式标本和记录为 A. capensis 的标本。从南非开普敦附近采集了 A. capensis 的新的新鲜样本。对模式标本和其他博物馆及新鲜标本进行了形态学重新描述。使用线粒体细胞色素 c 氧化酶亚基 1 基因（cox1）对新采集的 A. capensis 新鲜样本进行了分子特征描述。
形态学分析表明，除了 A. capensis 之外，非洲还有六种新的安诺克拉虫属物种：安诺克拉虫属（Anilocra）ianhudsoni n. sp.、安诺克拉虫属（Anilocra）bunkleywilliamsae n. sp.、安诺克拉虫属（Anilocra）paulsikkeli n. sp.、安诺克拉虫属（Anilocra）jovanasi n. sp.、安诺克拉虫属（Anilocra）angeladaviesae n. sp. 和安诺克拉虫属（Anilocra）hadfieldae n. sp. 在研究的物种中，A. capensis 的标本似乎表现出最大的个体变异，这种变异发生在腹节宽度、尾节形状和尾肢长度上。我们确定，非洲安诺克拉虫属物种可以主要通过背视图和胸节 1、6 和 7 的整体形状和大小来区分。其他定义形态特征包括对胸肢的形状和大小，以及触角和触角柄的形状和大小。最后，提供了 A. capensis 的分子特征，并确定了与地中海物种的种间分化小于与加勒比海物种的种间分化。
本研究的结果提供了 A. capensis 的详细重述和该生物的第一个分子条码。描述了来自非洲的六种新的安诺克拉虫属物种，这表明该地区的安诺克拉虫属多样性比以前所知的要大。有了对物种差异的新认识，我们可以准确地对来自非洲的安诺克拉虫属进行详细的分子和生态分析，并且可以确定研究中的生物。
