@article {96391,
	title = {Mitochondrial genome sequence comparisons indicate that the elephant louse <i>Haematomyzus elephantis</i> (Piaget, 1869) contains cryptic species},
	journal = {Medical and Veterinary Entomology},
	year = {2023},
	month = {Oct-18-2023},
	pages = {6 pp},
	type = {Short communication},
	abstract = {<p><jats p="">The parvorder Rhynchopthirina contains three currently recognised species of lice that parasitize elephants (both African savanna elephant <jats italic="">Loxodonta africana</jats> and Asian elephant <jats italic="">Elephas maximus</jats>), desert warthogs (<jats italic="">Phacochoerus aethiopicus</jats>) and Red River hogs (<jats italic="">Potamochoerus porcus</jats>), respectively. The Asian elephant lice and the African savanna elephant lice are currently treated as the same species, <jats italic="">Haematomyzus elephantis</jats> (Piaget, 1869), based on morphology despite the fact that their hosts diverged 8.4 million years ago. In the current study, we sequenced 23 mitochondrial (mt) genes of African savanna elephant lice collected in South Africa and analysed the sequence divergence between African savanna elephant lice and previously sequenced Asian elephant lice. Sequence comparisons revealed \&gt;23\% divergence for the 23 mt genes as a whole and ~17\% divergence for <jats italic="">cox1</jats> gene between African savanna and Asian elephant lice, which were far higher than the divergence expected within a species. Furthermore, the mt gene sequence divergences between these lice are 3.76\&ndash;4.6 times higher than that between their hosts, the African savanna and Asian elephants, which are expected for the co-divergence and co-evolution between lice and their elephant hosts. We conclude that (1) <jats italic="">H. elephantis</jats> (Piaget, 1869) contains cryptic species and (2) African savanna and Asian elephant lice are different species genetically that may have co-diverged and co-evolved with their hosts.</jats></p>
},
	keywords = {co-divergence and co-evolution, DNA barcode, ectoparasites, elephant lice, Mitochondrial genome, Rhynchopthirina},
	issn = {0269-283X, 1365-2915},
	doi = {10.1111/mve.12699},
	url = {https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mve.12699},
	author = {Sarah Kelly and Yalun Dong and Wei Wang and Matthee,Sonja and Jeanette M. Wentzel and Lance A. Durden and Renfu Shao}
}
