Morphology is not a reliable taxonomic tool for the genus Lernaea: molecular data and experimental infection reveal that L. cyprinacea and L. cruciata are conspecific

BACKGROUND: Species belonging to the genus Lernaea are cosmopolitan parasites that can infect many different freshwater fish hosts. Due to a high degree of morphological intraspecific variability and high levels of interspecific similarities, their classification is extremely difficult and controversial. Although the suitability of the shape of cephalic horns has been questioned decades ago by some experimental infection studies, this character still plays the central role in the identification of Lernaea spp. METHODS: We used the nominal species Lernaea cyprinacea and Lernaea cruciata to test the hypothesis that the shape of the anchor can exhibit host-induced morphological variability, and that the two taxa may be synonymous. RESULTS: We examined 517 wild or farmed specimens of five host fish species (four cyprinids and a mosquitofish), and found that all 16 parasite specimens collected from mosquitofish could be morphologically identified as L. cruciata, whereas the remaining 25 parasite specimens were all identified as L. cyprinacea. We experimentally infected goldfish and mosquitofish specimens with offspring (copepodids) of a single L. cyprinacea specimen: the adult parasites from goldfish were morphologically identified as L. cyprinacea, and those from mosquitofish as L. cruciata. We then used molecular data to corroborate that all these specimens are conspecific. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that L. cyprinacea and L. cruciata may be synonyms, misidentified as different species as a result of host-induced morphological variation. Given the current shortage of molecular data for the genus Lernaea, in order to resolve the taxonomy of this genus (determine the exact number of species), future studies should aim to sequence as much molecular data as possible, and conduct further experimental infections.