In our previous research on a natural waterbody in South Africa, introduced Australian redclaw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, were found to harbour two species of temnocephalans on their body surfaces and branchial chambers. The temnocephalans were morphologically consistent with Craspedella pedum and Diceratocephala boschmai, both known from this host species and native originally to Australia. In the current study, we report molecular data from the same material. DNA sequences from portions of the gene encoding the nuclear ribosomal 28S RNA indicated a close relationship of these worms with those from Australia. It is highly likely that the worms we found were introduced into South Africa along with the crayfish, following a similar trend elsewhere in the world. There is no evidence that they have been able to establish on native South African hosts.

中文翻译：

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与外来小龙虾（Parastacidae，十足目）一起引入南非的两种澳大利亚天头目（Temnocephalida，Platyhelminthes）的分子特征

在我们之前对南非天然水体的研究中，我们发现引入的澳大利亚红爪小龙虾Cherax quadricarinatus在它们的体表和鳃室中含有两种天头鱼。temnocephalans 在形态学上与Craspedella pedum和Diceratocephala boschmai一致，均从该宿主物种中得知，并且原产于澳大利亚。在当前的研究中，我们报告了来自相同材料的分子数据。来自编码核糖体 28S RNA 的基因部分的 DNA 序列表明这些蠕虫与来自澳大利亚的蠕虫有密切的关系。我们发现的蠕虫很可能与小龙虾一起被引入南非，遵循世界其他地方的类似趋势。没有证据表明它们能够在南非本土宿主上建立。