Evidence that host ecology drives first intermediate host use in the Didymozoidae (Trematoda: Hemiuroidea): an asexual infection in a vermetid (Gastropoda)

Abstract The Didymozoidae (Trematoda: Hemiuroidea) is among the most speciose trematode families, known from a wide range of marine teleost fishes. Despite their richness, however, didymozoid life cycles are unusually poorly known; only two first intermediate hosts are known, a marine bivalve (Anadara trapezia) and a pelagic gastropod (Firoloida desmarestia). This study uses multi-locus molecular sequence data to identify a novel first intermediate host for the family, a sessile gastropod of the genus Thylacodes Guettard (Vermetidae). The didymozoid infection is not identified to species but, based on molecular phylogenetic analyses, it is close to Saccularina magnacetabula Louvard et al., 2022, which uses a bivalve as a first intermediate host. The distribution of known first intermediate hosts of didymozoids (a bivalve, a holoplanktonic gastropod and a sessile gastropod that feeds with the use of mucus nets) suggests that first intermediate host use within the Didymozoidae has been opportunistically driven by the trophic ecology of potential mollusc hosts and has involved significant host-switching events.