Ecological and geographical speciation in Lucilia blowflies: Evolution of amphibian obligate parasitism

Publication date: Available online 22 September 2019Source: International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and WildlifeAuthor(s): G. Arias-Robledo, R. Wall, K. Szpila, D. Shpeley, T. Whitworth, T. Stark, R.A. King, J.R. StevensAbstractLucilia (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a genus of blowflies comprised largely of saprophagous and facultative parasites of livestock. Lucilia bufonivora, however, exhibits a unique form of obligate parasitism of amphibians, typically affecting wild hosts. The evolutionary route by which amphibian myiasis arose, however, is not well understood due to the low phylogenetic resolution in existing nuclear DNA phylogenies. Furthermore, the timing of when specificity for amphibian hosts arose in L. bufonivora is also unknown. In addition, this species was recently reported for the first time in North America (Canada) and, to date, no molecular studies have analysed the evolutionary relationships between individuals from Eastern and Western hemispheres. To provide broader insights into the evolution of the amphibian parasitic life history trait and to estimate when the trait first arose, a time-scaled phylogeny was inferred from a concatenated data set comprising mtDNA, nDNA and non-coding rDNA (COX1, per and ITS2 respectively). Specimens from Canada, the UK, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany were analysed, as well as individuals from its sister taxa, the saprophage Lucilia silvarum and a Nearctic species also implicated in amphibian myia...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research