Acipensericola glacialis n. sp. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) from heart of lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque (Acipenseriformes: Acipenseridae) in the Great Lakes Basin, Lake Winnebago System, USA.

ABSTRACT

Acipensericola glacialis n. sp. infects the heart of lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens (Rafinesque), in the Lake Winnebago System and differs from its only congener, Acipensericola petersoni Bullard, Snyder, Jensen & Overstreet, 2008, by having a dendritic intestine, deeply-lobed testes, a post-ovarian oötype, and a common genital pore that is medial to the dextral caecum. Acipensericola petersoni has a non-dendritic intestine, testes that are not deeply lobed, an oötype that is at level of the ovary (ventral to the ovary), and a common genital pore that is dorsal to the dextral caecum. Comparison of the large (28S) and small (18S) sub-unit ribosomal DNA and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) regions between specimens of A. glacialis n. sp. and A. petersoni revealed 13 (of 1,621 nt; 99.2% similarity in the 28S), 8 (of 1,841 nt; 99.9% similarity in the 18S), and 11 (of 442 nt; 97.5% similarity in the ITS2) nucleotide differences. Collectively, these results comprise an unexpectedly high degree of morphological and molecular similarity given the geographical (Mississippi River Basin vs Great Lakes Basin) and phylogenetic (Polyodontidae vs Acipenseridae) separation of these hosts but seemingly did not reject a previous hypothesis concerning lake sturgeon dispersal from the Mississippi Refugium following the Wisconsin glaciation ~18,000 years ago. The new species is the first nominal blood fluke described from a sturgeon.