A cattle-drinking pool in nature reserve “Zwin” on the Belgian coast contained free-living third-stage infective filaroid juveniles. These juveniles clearly differ morphologically from all known nematodes. Morphological and molecular analyses indicate a position within the Filaroidea. The aberrant biology of this nematode, namely, a free-living stage in an aquatic environment, is unknown within this superfamily, and the evolution of the parasitic phenotype to a free-living state is generally thought to be unlikely. However, the obtained placement in the small subunit molecular phylogenetic tree suggests that this free-living stage is most likely a secondary adaptation. It is reasonable to assert that nematodes with complex life cycles still have the genetic potential for a reversion from parasitism to a (partial) free-living stage.
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June 2006
Research Article|
June 01 2006
Evolutionary Loss of Parasitism by Nematodes? Discovery of a Free-Living Filaroid Nematode
Wim Bert;
Wim Bert
aDepartment of Biology, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
dTo whom correspondence should be addressed. wim.bert@ugent.be
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Marjolein Messiaen;
Marjolein Messiaen
bDepartment of Applied Ecology and Environmental Biology, Ghent University, J. Plateaustraat 22, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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Joeri Manhout;
Joeri Manhout
cRBINS, Recent Invertebrates, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
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Wouter Houthoofd;
Wouter Houthoofd
aDepartment of Biology, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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Gaëtan Borgonie
Gaëtan Borgonie
aDepartment of Biology, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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J Parasitol (2006) 92 (3): 645–647.
Citation
Wim Bert, Marjolein Messiaen, Joeri Manhout, Wouter Houthoofd, Gaëtan Borgonie; Evolutionary Loss of Parasitism by Nematodes? Discovery of a Free-Living Filaroid Nematode. J Parasitol 1 June 2006; 92 (3): 645–647. doi: https://doi.org/10.1645/GE-672R.1
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