Morphological and molecular characterization of a new species, Agglomerata daphniae n. sp. from the hypoderm of Daphnia magna (Crustacea: Daphniidae).

A new microsporidian species was described from the hypoderm of Daphnia magna sampled from gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) ponds located in Wuhan city, China. The infected cladocerans generally appeared opaque due to numerous plasmodia distributed in the host integument. The earliest stages observed were uninucleate meronts that were in direct contact with the host cell cytoplasm. Meronts developed into multinucleate sporogonial plasmodia enclosed in sporophorous vesicles. Sporoblasts were produced by the rosette-like division of sporogonial division. Mature spores were pyriform and monokaryotic, measuring 4.48 ± 0.09 (4.34-4.65) µm long and 2.40 ± 0.08 (2.18-2.54) µm wide. The polaroplast was bipartite with loose anterior lamellae and tight posterior lamellae. Polar filaments, arranged in two rows, were anisofilar with two wider anterior coils, and five narrower posterior coils. The exospore was covered with fibrous secretions and was composed of four layers. Phylogenetic analysis based on the obtained SSU rDNA sequence, indicated that the present species clustered with three unidentified Daphnia pulicaria-infecting microsporidia with high support values to form a monophyletic lineage, rather than with the congener, Agglomerata cladocera. The barcode motif of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the novel species was unique among representatives of the "Agglomeratidae" sensu clade (Vávra et al., 2018). Based on the morphological characters and SSU rDNA-inferred phylogenetic analyses, a new species was erected and named as Agglomerata daphniae n. sp. This is the first report of zooplankton-infecting microsporidia in China.