Skip Navigation

American Zoologist 1979 19(4):1225-1238; doi:10.1093/icb/19.4.1225
© 1979 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BROOKS, D. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Testing Hypotheses of Evolutionary Relationships Among Parasites: The Digeneans of Crocodilians

DANIEL RUSK BROOKS
Department of Animal Pathology, National Zoological Park Washington, D.C. 20008

Parasite systematists may question whether or not all the parasites of a given host taxon share a common evolutionary history, especially one which also includes the host taxon. This study presents a method for testing hypotheses of such faunal coevolution using crocodilians and their digeneans as a model host-parasite system. First, phylogenetic analysis, using numerical methods when large data bases require such handling, produces estimates of genealogical relationships among members of various taxa represented. The estimates, in the form of branching diagrams (cladograms), can each be compared with host genealogy and with geographic genealogy for the areas in which the parasites occur. Congruence of such patterns suggests a common evolutionary history and corroborates an hypothesis of faunal coevolution; incongruence suggests an invasive or colonizing fauna and falsifies an hypothesis of faunal coevolution. The digeneans of crocodilians apparently have coevolved as a faunal unit with their host group, at least since the end of the Mesozoic.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.