Molecular Phylogenies of Leeches and Haemoparasites Infecting Freshwater Turtles in Aquatic Ecosystems of Northern Africa Suggest Phylogenetic Congruence between Placobdella costata Sensu Lato and Haemogregarina stepanowi Sensu Lato

Haemogregarines are blood parasites with a life-cycle involving a vertebrate as the intermediate host and an invertebrate as the definitive host and vector. Extensive phylogenetic investigations based on 18S-rRNA gene sequences have shown that Haemogregarina stepanowi (Apicomplexa: Haemogregarinidae) is able to infest a large diversity of freshwater turtle species, including the European pond turtle Emys orbicularis, the Sicilian pond turtle Emys trinacris, the Caspian turtle Mauremys caspica, the Mediterranean pond turtle Mauremys leprosa, and the Western Caspian turtle Mauremys rivulata, among others. From the same molecular markers, H. stepanowi is further considered to be a complex of cryptic species predisposed to infect the same host species. While Placobdella costata is known to be the unique vector of H. stepanowi, it is only recently that independent lineages within P. costata have been illustrated-suggesting the presence of at least five unique leech species across Western Europe. The aims of our study were therefore to investigate from mitochondrial markers (COI) the genetic diversity within haemogregarines and leeches infecting freshwater turtles of the Maghreb, in order to identify processes of parasite speciation. We showed that H. stepanowi consists of at least five cryptic species in the Maghreb, while two Placobella species were identified in the same area. Although an Eastern-Western speciation pattern was apparent for both leeches and haemogregarines, we cannot make definitive conclusions regarding co-speciation patterns between parasites and vectors. However, we cannot reject the hypothesis of a very strict host-parasite specificity within leeches.

Notes on the biological development of the darkling beetle Blaps nefrauensis nefrauensis Seidlitz, 1893 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Several endemic species of Blaps occur in Tunisia, and the species Blaps nefrauensis nefrauensis has been reported in Moulares (urban zone in west-central Tunisia), where it lives and reproduces in home gardens and old buildings. The aim of this work is to study the life cycle of the darkling beetle, considering both field and laboratory rearing conditions. As a result, the beetle species has different developmental stages (egg, larva, prepupa, pupa, and adult) that last about 15 months. Each year during the same period, adults emerge (early summer) and expire (late autumn), larvae hatch (late summer) and pupate (early summer). There is only one generation per year. Females began laying eggs in late July. The eggs were ovoid, white, and about 2.7 mm in length and 1.5 mm in width. Embryogenesis took an average of nine days. The first instar larvae were at initially only 4.5 mm long and ivory white in color. A brief description of the newly egg hatched larva was provided; thus, the nerve fibers innervating the apical setae in the antennae and ligula were detected. Further light microscopic examination of the embryo before hatching from the egg pointed out that the antennal sensilla are protected during the embryogenesis stage.

Cytochrome c oxydase I phylogenetic analysis of Haemogregarina parasites (Apicomplexa, Coccidia, Eucoccidiorida, Haemogregarinidae) confirms the presence of three distinct species within the freshwater turtles of Tunisia

Species of Haemogregarina are apicomplexan blood parasites that use vertebrates as intermediate hosts. Due to limited interspecific morphological characters within the genus during the last decade, 18S rRNA gene sequences were widely used for species identification. As coinfection patterns were recently reported from nuclear molecular data for two sympatric freshwater turtles Mauremys leprosa and Emys orbicularis from Tunisia, our objectives were to design COI specific primers to confirm the presence of three distinct species in both host species. Blood samples were collected from 22 turtles, from which DNAs were extracted and used as templates for amplification. Following different rounds of PCR and nested PCR, we designed specific Haemogregarina COI primers that allowed the sequencing of nine distinct haplotypes. Phylogenetic Bayesian analysis revealed the occurrence of three well-differentiated sublineages that clustered together into a single clade. Based on pairwise genetic distances (p-distance), we confirmed the occurrence of three distinct but phylogenetically closely related species coinfecting M. leprosa and E. orbicularis in the same aquatic environments. Our results demonstrate that the use of fast evolving genes within Haemogregarina will help to investigate the parasite diversity within both intermediate vertebrate and definitive invertebrate hosts, and to assess the evolution, historical biogeography and specificity of haemogregarines.

Description of a new Agraecina species from Tunisia (Araneae: Liocranidae), with a review of all species of the genus

While Liocranidae is a family encompassing 283 species distributed in 32 genera (World Spider Catalog 2019), the genus Agraecina Simon, 1932 currently counts only six described species: Agraecina canariensis Wunderlich, 1992 from the Canaries, A. cristriani (Georgescu, 1989) from Romania, A. hodna Bosmans, 1999 from Algeria, A. lineata (Simon, 1878) from Europe and Kazakhstan, A. rutilia (Simon, 1897) from Sierrra Leone, and A. scupiensis Deltshev, 2016 from Macedonia. During an ecological survey in the north of Tunisia, a new Agraecina species was discovered and is described here. Spiders were collected using pitfall traps in a salt marsh.