Dr Quinton Marco Dos Santos is a parasitologist with research focused on the taxonomy and biodiversity of aquatic parasites. His study focus is primarily on freshwater fish parasites in southern Africa, using integrative approaches where alpha taxonomy and molecular tools are combined to obtain more holistic results, while also refining and developing alternative approaches. The aim of this research is to produce detailed and accurate morphological and genetic accounts for neglected taxa, alongside more efficient and effective workflows to do so, all contributing to the biodiversity knowledge of aquatic systems.
The foundation of his research has been the highly peculiar parasites of the family Diplozoidae (Monogenea). Our studies of this group in Africa have led to the description of two new species, alternative methodologies to more intricately study their morphology, the generation of novel genetic data for African species, and two reviews on the species in Africa and the use of molecular tools to study the group, respectively. The refinement of the approaches used have allowed other taxa to be studied in similar ways, generating valuable information for several species of Monogenea, Copepoda, Cestoda, Trematoda and Nematoda. Although most of this research is aimed at native species, we are also interested in the presence and impact of invasive parasites.
