Redescription ofCercopithifilaria bainaeAlmeida & Vicente, 1984 (Spirurida, Onchocercidae) from a dog in Sardinia, Italy

BackgroundThree species of the genusCercopithifilariahave been morphologically and molecularly characterized in dog populations in southern Europe:Cercopithifilaria grassii(Noè, 1907),Cercopithifilariasp.sensuOtranto et al., 2011 (reported asCercopithifilariasp. I), andCercopithifilariasp. IIsensuOtranto et al., 2012. The adults ofCercopithifilariasp. I have remained unknown until the present study.MethodsThe material originated from a dog from Sardinia (Italy) diagnosed with dermal microfilariae ofCercopithifilariasp. I. The holotype and three paratypes ofCercopithifilaria bainaeAlmeida & Vicente, 1984, described from dogs in Brazil, were studied as comparative material. Acox1 (~689 bp) and 12S (~330 bp) gene fragments were amplified and phylogenetic analysis carried out.ResultsThe highest numbers of adult nematodes (82%) were collected in the sediment of the subcutaneous tissues of the trunk (n = 37) and forelimbs (n = 36). The morphology of the adult nematodes and microfilariae collected from the dog in Sardinia corresponded to those ofC. bainae. Allcox1 and 12S gene sequences showed a high homology (99-100%) with sequences from microfilariae ofCercopithifilariasp. I.ConclusionsThe morphological and molecular identity of the microfilariae ofC. bainaeoverlap those described previously asCercopithifilariasp.sensuOtranto et al., 2011 (=Cercopithifilariasp. I). Therefore, the present study reports the occurrence ofC. bainaein Europe, for the first time after its description and the single record in Brazil.C. bainaeappears to be highly diffused in dog populations in southern Europe. The phylogenetic analyses based on cox1 and 12S do not reveal the three species ofCercopithifilariaparasitizing dogs as a monophyletic group, which suggests that they have derived independently by host switching.