Phylogenetics and population genetics of the louse fly, Lipoptena mazamae, from Arkansas, USA.

Louse flies, also known as deer keds (Lipoptena mazamae Rondani), infest cervids such as white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus and vector pathogens such as Anaplasma and Bartonella schoenbuchensis to cattle and humans, respectively. The population genetic structure of 30 L. mazamae collected from white-tailed deer in four regions of Arkansas, U.S.A., designated by county boundaries, was examined using DNA sequences of a 259-bp region of the mitochondrial DNA rRNA 16S gene. Of the 259 nucleotide characters, 33 were variable and 6 haplotypes were identified. Two haplotypes occurred only once (haplotype 3 and 4), whereas two other haplotypes occurred in 43% (haplotype 1 in two regions) and 40% (haplotype 6 in three regions) of the samples. Phylogenetic relationships of the six L. mazamae haplotypes were constructed with other Hippoboscid and Glossinid samples and two clades resulted. Clade 1 was located in the north and western Ozarks whereas clade 2 was found in the northern and eastern Ozarks. Results from the present study indicate that Lipoptena may be a polyphyletic genus; consequently, more research into genetic variation within this genus is necessary.