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Background  Parasite switches to new host species are of fundamental scientific interest and may be considered an important speciation mechanism. For numerous monogenean fish parasites, infecting different hosts is associated with morphological adaptations, in particular of the attachment organ (haptor). However, haptoral morphology in  Cichlidogyrus  spp. (Monogenea, Dactylogyridea), parasites of African cichlids, has been mainly linked to phylogenetic rather than to host constraints. Here we determined the position of  Cichlidogyrus amieti , a parasite of species of  Aphyosemion  (Cyprinodontiformes, Nothobranchiidae) in the phylogeny of its congeners in order to infer its origin and assess the morphological changes associated with host-switching events.    Methods  The DNA of specimens of  C. amieti  isolated from  Aphyosemion cameronense  in Cameroon was sequenced and analyzed together with that of  Cichlidogyrus  spp. from cichlid hosts. In order to highlight the influence of the lateral transfer of  C. amieti  on the haptoral sclerotised parts we performed a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to compare the attachment organ structure of  C. amieti  to that of congeners infecting cichlids.    Results   Cichlidogyrus amieti  was found to be nested within a strongly supported clade of species described from  Hemichromis  spp. (i.e.  C. longicirrus  and  C. dracolemma ). This clade is located at a derived position of the tree, suggesting that  C. amieti  transferred from cichlids to Cyprinodontiformes and not inversely. The morphological similarity between features of their copulatory organs suggested that  C. amieti  shares a recent ancestor with  C. dracolemma . It also indicates that in this case, these organs do not seem subjected to strong divergent selection pressure. On the other hand, there are substantial differences in haptoral morphology between  C. amieti  and all of its closely related congeners described from  Hemichromis  spp..    Conclusions  Our study provides new evidence supporting the hypothesis of the adaptive nature of haptor morphology. It demonstrates this adaptive component for the first time within  Cichlidogyrus , the attachment organs of which were usually considered to be mainly phylogenetically constrained.

parasites and vectors

A phylogeny of Cichlidogyrus spp. (Monogenea, Dactylogyridea) clarifies a host-switch between fish families and reveals an adaptive component to attachment organ morphology of this parasite genus