Origin and evolution of African Polystoma (Monogenea: Polystomatidae) assessed by molecular methods

Among Polystomatidae (Monogenea), the genus Polystoma, which mainly infests neobatrachian hosts, is the most diverse and occurs principally in Africa, from where half the species have been reported. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that this genus originated in South America, and later colonised Eurasia and Africa. No mention was made on dispersal corridors between Europe and Africa or of the origin of the African Polystoma radiation. Therefore, a molecular phylogeny was inferred from ITS1 sequences of 21 taxa comprising two species from America, seven representatives from Europe and 12 from Africa. The topology of the phylogenetic tree reveals that a single event of colonisation took place from Europe to Africa and that the putative host carrying along the ancestral polystome is to be found among ancestral pelobatids. Percentage divergences estimates suggest that some presumably distinct vesicular species in unrelated South African anurans and some neotenic forms found in several distinct hosts in Ivory Coast, could, in fact, belong to two single polystome species parasitising divergent hosts. Two main factors are identified that may explain the diversity of African polystomes: (i), we propose that following some degree of generalism, at least during the juvenile stages of both hosts and parasites, distinctive larval behaviour of polystomes engenders isolation between parasite populations that precludes sympatric speciations; (ii), cospeciation events between Ptychadena hosts and their parasites are another factor of diversification of Polystoma on the African continent. Finally, we discuss the systematic status of the Madagascan parasite Metapolystoma, as well as the colonisation of Madagascar by the host Ptychadena mascareniensis. © 2001 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc.