Rodent louse diversity, phylogeny, and cospeciation in the Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru

We investigated the diversity, cophylogenetic relationships, and biogeography of hoplopleurid sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) parasitizing rodents (Muridae: Sigmodontinae) in the Manu National Park and Biosphere Reserve. Our morphological and molecular studies reveal that 15 distinct louse spe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological journal of the Linnean Society 2008-11, Vol.95 (3), p.598-610
Main Authors: SMITH, VINCENT S, LIGHT, JESSICA E, DURDEN, LANCE A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anoplura
biodiversity
biogeography
Biological and medical sciences
Biological evolution
cophylogeny
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Hoplopleura
Mammalia
Muridae
Peru
Phthiraptera
rodents
Sigmodontinae
sucking lice
Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution
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Summary:We investigated the diversity, cophylogenetic relationships, and biogeography of hoplopleurid sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) parasitizing rodents (Muridae: Sigmodontinae) in the Manu National Park and Biosphere Reserve. Our morphological and molecular studies reveal that 15 distinct louse species parasitize 19 rodent species. Three of these louse species are new to science, and all but two of the host associations were previously unknown. We find that hoplopleurid lice in South America parasitize multiple host species across a large geographic area, and that Peru represents a new geographic locality for almost all the louse species collected in the present study. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear data reveal that the louse family Hoplopleuridae and the genera Hoplopleura and Pterophthirus are not monophyletic, and lice do not appear to group by host tribe, collecting locality, or collection elevation. The lack of monophyly for these apparently natural groups (taxonomic, locality, and elevation) indicates that host switching with or without parasite speciation may be prevalent among hoplopleurid lice.
ISSN:0024-4066
1095-8312
DOI:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.01069.x