Phylogenetic position of Linguatula arctica and Linguatula serrata (Pentastomida) as inferred from the nuclear 18S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene.

Genomic DNA was isolated from a Linguatula serrata female expelled from a dog imported to Norway from Romania and from four Linguatula arctica females collected from semi-domesticated reindeer from northern Norway and subjected to PCR amplification of the complete nuclear 18S rRNA gene and a 1,045-bp portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (cox1). The two species differed at two of 1,830 nucleotide positions (99.9% identity) of the complete 18S rRNA gene sequences and at 102 of 1,045 nucleotide positions (90.2% identity) of the partial cox1 sequences. The four isolates of L. arctica showed no genetic variation in either gene. The new cox1 primers may facilitate the diagnosis of various developmental stages of L. arctica and L. serrata in their hosts. In separate phylogenetic analyses using the maximum likelihood method on sequence data from either gene, L. arctica and L. serrata clustered with members of the order Cephalobaenida rather than with members of the order Porocephalida, in which the genus Linguatula is currently placed based on morphological characters. The phylogenetic relationship of L. arctica, L. serrata and other pentastomids to other metazoan groups could not be clearly resolved, but the pentastomids did not seem to have a sister relationship to crustaceans of the subclass Branchiura as found in other studies. A more extensive taxon sampling, including molecular characterisation of more pentastomid taxa across different genera, seems to be necessary in order to estimate the true relationship of the Pentastomida to other metazoan groups.