Abstract
Ribosomal DNA sequences are currently available for 32 morphologically recognized species of Dactylogyrus parasitizing Nearctic cypriniforms, but only 16 of them are assigned to nominal species. Herein, morphological data on 28 of the 32 species are provided, together with comments on their phylogenetic relationships in the context of the morphology of taxonomically important structures. Seven new species of Dactylogyrus are described from five species of leuciscids and one species of catostomids, as follows: D. aduncus n. sp. from Campostoma spadiceum, D. cloutmani n. sp. from Luxilus chrysocephalus isolepis, D. cornifrons n. sp. from Cyprinella venusta, D. fimbratus n. sp. from Rhinichthys cataractae, D. mcallisteri n. sp. from Semotilus atromaculatus, and D. chieni n. sp. and D. haneki n. sp. from Hypentelium nigricans. Four previously described species of Dactylogyrus, D. atromaculatus from S. atromaculatus, D. eos from C. neogaeus, D. parvicirrus from Notemigonus crysoleucas and D. perlus from L. c. isolepis, are redescribed and/or figured. As for the remaining 17 species, only the male copulatory organs (MCOs) taken from the respective hologenophores are illustrated. On the basis of phylogenetic analyses, two main clades of Nearctic Dactylogyrus were recognized and supported by the different morphology of the MCO. The first one included 22 strictly Nearctic species sharing the same MCO type with Dactylogyrus spp. parasitizing cyprinids likely of Asian origin. The second clade encompassed Dactylogyrus spp. with diverse MCO morphology and was placed in the sister position to Dactylogyrus spp. parasitizing European leuciscids and North-West African cyprinids.