A molecular reconstruction of holarctic Heligmosomidae reveals a new species of Heligmosomoides (Nematoda: Heligmosomidae) in Peromyscus maniculatus (Neotominae) from Canada

Abstract

A new species of Heligmosomoides Hall, 1916 is proposed for nematodes collected from deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus, in western Canada. The unequivocal diagnostic character for this species is the presence of two internal bursal membranes. Only four species, Heligmosomoides bullosus, Heligmosomoides douglasi, Heligmosomoides montanus and Heligmosomoides vandegrifti, are characterized as possessing a single internal bursal membrane. The genetic distance between Heligmosomoides bibullosus sp. nov., and its putative sister clade Heligmosomoides vandegrifti is congruent with their geographic separation by the mountain range of the Rockies and 4000 km; both morphological difference as well as geography and genetic distance suggest isolation among the two species. Further, H. bibullosus sp. nov. infects deer mice (P. maniculatus) whereas H. vandegrifti is frequently collected in white-footed mice (P. leucopus). Finally, this study supports the taxonomic importance of the monodelphic/didelphic condition as a diagnostic trait within the family, the paraphyly of Heligmosomoides, and reveals undocumented diversity of Heligmosomoides in Nearctic rodents of the Neotominae. The present taxon is the third species in members of this subfamily of rodents.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DE78368D-2CDE-4F9D-AB85-A3CE20D957F4

Key words:

• Heligmosomoides, Heligmosomoides bibullosus
• Nematoda
• Peromyscus maniculatus
• Heligmosomoidea
• museum research
• Yukon Territory
• British Columbia

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr Sara Brant for the access to the materials in MSB that were initially sorted by M. Kinsella; Drs Gabor Racz and Scott Gardner provided collection numbers for specimens deposited in the HWML. Collection of specimens was the result of the hard work of J. Behnke, J.W. Brunt, J.A. Cook, N. Dawson, L. Delehanty, N. Dokuchae, A. Hope, A. Lahzuhtkin, S.O. MacDonald, A. Runck, A. Tsvetkova and M. Westover. E.A. Zieman provided technical assistance and P.C. Williams. E. Hoberg and J.A. Cook provided insightful criticism to an earlier version of this manuscript. Dr Ed Heist allowed the use of the Conservation Genetics sequencer at SIU. Alnaqeb was funded by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) and a grant in aid by the Annual Midwestern Conference of Parasitologists (AMCOP).

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest in the completion of this manuscript.

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed here: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/zool_data/17.

(Cameron, 1937; Dikmans, 1940; Dujardin, 1845; Durette-Desset, 1967; Gardner & Jasmer, 1983; Kuns & Rausch, 1950; Rausch & Rausch, 1973; Walton, 1923)

Associate Editor: Dr Peter D. Olson

Additional information

Funding

Collections in Canada and Russia were completed under the Beringian Coevolution Project financed by grants NSF-DEB 0196095 and 0415668 to Drs. J. A. Cook and E. P. Hoberg. Writing supported in part by NSF-DUE1564969. KV is supported by NSF-EEID 1619072, and NIH-NIAID 1R21AI156406-01 & 1R01AI134911.