title: Morphological and molecular data for larval stages of four species of Petasiger Dietz, 1909 (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) with an updated key to the known cercariae from the Palaearctic.
abstract: Large-tailed echinostomatid cercariae of the genus Petasiger Dietz, 1909 (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) from the planorbid snails Gyraulus albus (Müller) and Planorbis planorbis (L.) collected in Germany and the Czech Republic and metacercariae from Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (Gasterosteiformes: Gasterosteidae) collected in Canada are characterised morphologically and molecularly. The rediae, cercariae and metacercariae are described in detail and compared with the existing data on the larval stages of Petasiger spp. Comparative molecular analyses using 28S rDNA and nad1 mitochondrial sequences supported the distinct status of four species of Petasiger. Molecular and morphological evidence for their distinction and an updated key to the known large-tailed cercariae of Petasiger from the Palaearctic are provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Ecology and Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstraße 5, D-45141, Essen, Germany, christian.selbach@uni-due.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Selbach
authors.forename: Miroslava
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soldánová
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Georgieva
authors.forename: Aneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kostadinova
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalbe
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sures
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004450:Echinostomatidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D007814:Larva; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S