Did biogeographical processes shape the monogenean community of butterflyfishes in the tropical Indo-west Pacific region?
Résumé
Geographical distribution of parasite species can provide insights into the evolution and diversity of parasitic
communities. Biogeography of marine parasites is poorly known, especially because it requires an
understanding of host-parasite interactions, information that is rare, especially over large spatial scales.
Here, we have studied the biogeographical patterns of dactylogyrid parasites of chaetodontids, one of the
most well-studied fish families, in the tropical Indo-west Pacific region. Dactylogyrid parasites were collected
from gills of 34 butterflyfish species (n = 560) at nine localities within an approximate area of
62 million km2. Thirteen dactylogyrid species were identified, with richness ranging from 6 to 12 species
at individual localities. Most dactylogyrid communities were dominated by Haliotrema angelopterum or
Haliotrema aurigae, for which relative abundance was negatively correlated (q = !0.59). Parasite richness
and diversity were highest in French Polynesia and the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) and lowest in Palau.
Three biogeographic regions were identified based on dactylogyrid dissimilarities: French Polynesia,
characterised by the dominance of H. angelopterum, the western Pacific region dominated by H. aurigae,
and Ningaloo Reef (Australia), dominated by Euryhaliotrema berenguelae. Structure of host assemblages
was the main factor explaining the dissimilarity (turnover and nestedness components of the Bray-
Curtis dissimilarity and overall Bray-Curtis dissimilarity) of parasite communities between localities,
while environment was only significant in the turnover of parasite communities and overall dissimilarity.
Spatial structure of localities explained only 10% of the turnover of parasite communities. The interaction
of the three factors (host assemblages, environment and spatial structure), however, explained the highest
amounts of variance of the dactylogyrid communities, indicating a strong colinearity between the factors.
Our findings show that spatial arrangement of chaetodontid dactylogyrids in the tropical Indo-west
Pacific is primarily characterised by the turnover of the main Haliotrema spp., which is mainly explained
by the structure of host assemblages.
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