Scientists have been puzzled by the identity of a tiny parasite in the Gulf of Mexico. Known as Diplomonorchis, this creature has been causing confusion among researchers. A recent study has shed new light on this little worm. It turns out that what was thought to be one species is actually several.

The parasite Diplomonorchis leiostomi has been spotted in the coastal Western Atlantic, from Delaware Bay all the way down to southern Brazil. But a closer look at worms collected from the northern Gulf of Mexico revealed something surprising. These worms had a slightly different DNA sequence compared to those found in other places.

The scientists decided to take a deeper dive into the identities of these Diplomonorchis species. They found that the worms could be told apart by the shape and size of their testes, and to some extent, by the length of their caeca.

Museum specimens from the Gulf of Mexico were also examined. It turned out that these worms were part of a species complex, containing not just D. leiostomi, but also D. cf. micropogoni, and a new species that hasn't been described before.

Genetic data from earlier studies, which had been labeled as D. leiostomi, were actually from a different species, D. cf. micropogoni. The new species has been described based on newly collected samples.

A closer look at the genetic relationships showed that all three Diplomonorchis species are closely related and belong to a group called Monorchioidea. With the discovery of the new species and the acceptance of D. micropogoni, there are now 14 valid species in the Diplomonorchis family.

Unraveling the Mystery of Diplomonorchis in the Gulf

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