Phylogenetics and population genetics of the louse fly, Lipoptena mazamae, from Arkansas, USA.
Louse flies, also known as deer keds (Lipoptena mazamae Rondani), infest cervids such as white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus and vector pathogens such as Anaplasma and Bartonella schoenbuchensis to cattle and humans, respectively. The population genetic structure of 30 L. mazamae collected from white-tailed deer in four regions of Arkansas, U.S.A., designated by county boundaries, was examined using DNA sequences of a 259-bp region of the mitochondrial DNA rRNA 16S gene. Of the 259 nucleotide characters, 33 were variable and 6 haplotypes were identified. Two haplotypes occurred only once (haplotype 3 and 4), whereas two other haplotypes occurred in 43% (haplotype 1 in two regions) and 40% (haplotype 6 in three regions) of the samples. Phylogenetic relationships of the six L. mazamae haplotypes were constructed with other Hippoboscid and Glossinid samples and two clades resulted. Clade 1 was located in the north and western Ozarks whereas clade 2 was found in the northern and eastern Ozarks. Results from the present study indicate that Lipoptena may be a polyphyletic genus; consequently, more research into genetic variation within this genus is necessary.
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Department of Entomology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA. rtrout@uark.edu
Steelman
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Szalanski
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D000818:Animals; D001131:Arkansas; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003670:Deer / Q000469:parasitology; D004175:Diptera / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial