02608nas a2200277   4500008004100000022002500041245015000066210006900216260001600285300000900301520168300310653003501993653001602028653001802044653001802062653002502080653002002105100001702125700001602142700001402158700001902172700002602191700002202217700001602239856007502255       2023                        eng d  a0269-283X, 1365-291500aMitochondrial genome sequence comparisons indicate that the elephant louse <i>Haematomyzus elephantis</i> (Piaget, 1869) contains cryptic species0 aMitochondrial genome sequence comparisons indicate that the elep  cOct-18-2023  a6 pp3 a<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>
10aco-divergence and co-evolution10aDNA barcode10aectoparasites10aelephant lice10aMitochondrial genome10aRhynchopthirina1 aKelly, Sarah1 aDong, Yalun1 aWang, Wei1 aMatthee, Sonja1 aWentzel, Jeanette, M.1 aDurden, Lance, A.1 aShao, Renfu  uhttps://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mve.12699