Phylogenetic Position of Creptotrema funduli in the Allocreadiidae Based on Partial 28S rDNA Sequences

The infrequently reported allocreadiid digenean Creptotrema funduli Mueller, 1934 is documented from the blackstripe topminnow, Fundulus natal us (Cyprinodontiformes: Fundulidae), in the headwaters of the Biloxi River, Harrison County, Mississippi. Specimens from Mississippi were compared with the type material from Fundulus diaphanus menona from Oneida Lake, New York, and no substantial difference was found. A fragment of ribosomal DNA, comprising a short portion of the 3' end of 18S nuclear rDNA gene, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genes (including ITSI. 5.8S, and ITS2), and the 5' end of the 28S gene including variable domains D1-D3 was sequenced for the species. A portion of the 28S rDNA gene from C funduli, plus similar fragments from 8 other allocreadiids and the callodistomatid Prosthenhystera sp., were aligned and subjected to maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses. Resulting phylogenetic trees were derived from the analyses and used to estimate the relationship of Creptotrema Travassos, Artigas, and Pereira, 1928 with other allocreadiids. Creptotrema was found to be closely related to Megalogonia Surber, 1928 and 3 Neotropical genera, i.e., Wallinia Pearse, 1920, Creptotrematina Yamaguti, 1954, and Auriculostoma Scholz, Aguirre-Macedo, and Choudhury, 2004. No molecular data were available for species in Cremotrema prior to this study, so the ITSI, 5.8S, and ITS2 genes have been made available for comparative studies involving neotropical species in the genus.