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Fish Parasite Dinoflagellates Haidadinium ichthyophilum and Piscinoodinium Share a Recent Common Ancestor
Author(s) -
Hehenberger Elisabeth,
James Erick R.,
Campo Javier,
BucklandNicks John A.,
Reimchen Thomas E.,
Keeling Patrick J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/jeu.12430
Subject(s) - biology , gasterosteus , dinoflagellate , stickleback , parasite hosting , fish <actinopterygii> , zoology , ribosomal rna , ecology , fishery , genetics , world wide web , computer science , gene
The dinoflagellate Haidadinium ichthyophilum Buckland‐Nicks, Reimchen and Garbary 1997 is an ectoparasite of the spine‐deficient, three‐spine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. Reimchen 1984, a fish endemic to Rouge Lake, Haida Gwaii. Haidadinium ichthyophilum proved difficult to assign taxonomically because its morphology and complex life cycle exhibited defining characteristics of both autotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates, and was tentatively assigned to the Phytodiniales. Here, we characterized a 492 bp fragment of the small subunit ribosomal RNA ( SSU rRNA ) from preserved H. ichthyophilum cysts. In SSU phylogeny, H. ichthyophilum branches with the fish parasites, Piscinoodinium sp., strongly supporting the inclusion of H. ichthyophilum within the Suessiales.