155 years after Van Beneden: redescription and first molecular characterisation of the enigmatic type species, Ascarophis morrhuae Van Beneden, 1870 (Nematoda, Cystidicolidae), and comparison to other Ascarophis species in the North Atlantic

Abstract

Nematodes belonging to the Cystidicolidae Skrjabin, 1946 constitute more than 23 genera of 111 recognized species in fish from many habitats including the deep-sea, continental shelves, estuarine and freshwater habitats. The taxonomy of many species within the Cystidicolidae is unsettled due to their small size and correspondingly small morphological characters requiring use of scanning electron microscopy and supported more recently by molecular studies. The type species, Ascarophis morrhuae Van Beneden, 1870, which belongs to one of the first described and most speciose cystidicolid genera with 46 species, is based on a two-sentence description of a single female specimen from an Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, presumably captured off the coast of Belgium in the North Sea (Van Beneden, 1870). New material was collected/examined from Atlantic cod and haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus, from Iceland and the North Sea and specimens present in the Natural History Museum, London were also studied. Based on these materials, A. morrhuae is morphologically redescribed and the first DNA sequences of this species are provided, it is differentiated from other Ascarophis species present in the North Atlantic and previous records are reviewed. This information provides a foundation for taxonomic and phylogenetic reconsideration of all cystidicolid nematodes and related families.