Proteocephalids are a cosmopolitan and diverse group of tapeworms (Cestoda) that have colonized vertebrate hosts in freshwater and terrestrial environments. Despite the ubiquity of the group, key macroevolutionary processes that have driven the group's evolution have yet to be identified. Here, we review the phylogenetic relationships of proteocephalid tapeworms using publicly available (671) and newly generated (91) nucleotide sequences of the nuclear RNA28S and the mitochondrial MT-CO1 for 537 terminals. The main tree search was carried out under the parsimony optimality criterion, analysing different gene alignments simultaneously. Interestingly, we were not able to recover monophyly of the Proteocephalidae. Additionally, it was difficult to reconcile the tree with host and biogeographical data using traditional character optimization strategies in two dimensions. Therefore, we investigated if host and biogeographical data can be correlated with the parasite clades in a multidimensional space-thus considering multiple layers of information simultaneously. To that end, we used random forests (a class of machine learning models) to test the predictive potential of combined (not individual) host and biogeographical data in the context of the proteocephalid tree. Our resulting models can correctly place 88.85% (on average) of the terminals into eight representative clades. Moreover, we interactively increased the levels of clade perturbation probability and confirmed the expectation that model accuracy negatively correlates with the degree of clade perturbation. Our results show that host and biogeographical data can accurately predict proteocephalid clades in multidimensional space, even though they are difficult to optimize in the parasite tree. These results agree with the assumption that the evolution of proteocephalids is not independent of host and biogeography, and both may provide external support for our tree.

• MeSH
• Cestoda * genetika   klasifikace   MeSH
• fylogeneze * MeSH
• fylogeografie MeSH
• strojové učení * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

The parasite fauna of Neotropical reptiles is poorly known, and the number of parasites described in these hosts does not seem to correspond to the actual species diversity in this zoogeographical region. This also applies to tapeworms such as proteocephalids, which are rarely found in reptiles and are strictly specific to their reptilian hosts. In the present paper, three new species of Ophiotaenia La Rue, 1911 are described from three dipsadine snake species (Squamata: Colubridae) in Ecuador, namely O. jeanmarctouzeti sp. n. from the Neotropical blunt-headed treesnake Imantodes cenchoa (Linnaeus), O. barraganae sp. n. from the beautiful calico snake Oxyrhopus formosus (Wied-Neuwied) and O. velascoae sp. n. from the forest flame snake Oxyrhopus petolarius (Linnaeus). The new species are characterised by type 1 uterine development, the number and distribution of testes, the size of the scolex and other metric features. As no molecular data are available on the specimens collected more than 35 years ago, the phylogenetic relationships of the individual taxa are not known.

• Klíčová slova
• Dipsadinae, Ophidia, South America, Tapeworms, morphology, species diversity, taxonomy,
• MeSH
• Cestoda * klasifikace   izolace a purifikace   MeSH
• cestodózy veterinární   parazitologie   epidemiologie   MeSH
• Colubridae * parazitologie   MeSH
• druhová specificita MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Ekvádor MeSH

Fish (Elasmobranchia and Actinopterygii) inhabit the majority of aquatic habitats globally. They are crucial for human nutrition but they may be negatively affected by parasitic protists and metazoan parasites. Fish parasites are also an extraordinary group of animals because of their ecological and evolutionary importance and unique adaptations to parasitism. They also play a key role in ecosystem functioning. In the present special issue, 13 review and research articles on major groups of fish parasites are provided to document the current advancement in our understanding of different aspects of their biology, ecology and associations with their fish hosts. The existing gaps in our knowledge of these peculiar animals are mapped and future trends in their research outlined.

• Klíčová slova
• Aquaculture, Mollusca, Myxozoa, control, diversity, ecology, elasmobranchs, fish parasites, helminths, host–parasite relationships, molecular data, parasitic crustaceans, ray-finned fish,
• MeSH
• biologická evoluce MeSH
• ekosystém MeSH
• interakce hostitele a parazita MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• nemoci ryb * parazitologie   MeSH
• paraziti * MeSH
• ryby parazitologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH