Abstract
The close correspondence often observed between the taxonomy of parasites and their hosts1,2 has led to Fahrenholz's rule3, which postulates that parasites and their hosts speciate in synchrony. This leads to the prediction that phylogenetic trees of parasites and their hosts should be topologically identical2,4. We report here a test of this prediction which involves the construction of phylogenetic trees for rodents and their ectoparasites using protein electrophoretic data. We find a high degree of concordance in the branching patterns of the trees which suggests that there is a history of cospeciation in this host–parasite assemblage. In several cases where the branching patterns were identical in the host and parasite phylogenies, the branch lengths were also very similar which, given the assumptions of molecular clock theory, strongly suggests that the speciation of these hosts and ectoparasites was roughly contemporaneous and causally related.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mitter, C. & Brooks, D. R. in Coevolution (eds Futuyma, D. J. & Slatkin, M.) 65–98 (Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1983).
Stone, A. R. & Hawksworth, D. L. Coevolution and Systematics (Clarendon, Oxford, 1986).
Eichler, W. Annls mag. nat. Hist. 12, 588–598 (1948).
Lyal, C. H. C. J. nat. Hist. 21, 1–28 (1987).
Marshall, A. G. The Ecology of Ectoparasitic Insects (Academic, London, 1981).
Smolen, M. J., Genoways, H. H. & Baker, R. J. J. Mammal 61, 224–236 (1980).
Timm, R. M. in Coevolution (ed. Nitecki, M. H.) 225–265 (University of Chicago Press, 1983).
Harris, H. & Hopkinson, D. A. Handbook of Enzyme Electrophoresis in Human Genetics (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1976).
Hafner, M. S., Hafner, J. C., Patton, J. L. & Smith, M. F. Syst. Zool. 36, 18–34 (1987).
Honeycutt, R. L. & Williams, S. L. J. Mammal 63, 208–217 (1982).
Sneath, P. H. A. & Sokal, R. R. Numerical Taxonomy (Freeman, San Francisco, 1973).
Nelson, G. & Platnick, N. Systematics and Biogeography (Columbia University Press, 1981).
Hall, E. R. The Mammals of North America (Wiley, New York, 1981).
Wilson, A. C., Carlson, S. S. & White, T. J. A. Rev. Biochem. 46, 573–639 (1977).
King, J. L. & Jukes, T. H. Science 164, 788–798 (1969).
Fitch, W. M. in Molecular Evolution (ed. Ayala, F. J.) 160–178 (Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1976).
Sarich, V. M. Nature 265, 24–28 (1977).
Kojima, K., Gillespie, J. H. & Tobari, Y. N. Biochem. Genet. 4, 627–637 (1970).
Rogers, J. S. Univ. Texas Publ. 7213, 145–153 (1972).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hafner, M., Nadler, S. Phylogenetic trees support the coevolution of parasites and their hosts. Nature 332, 258–259 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332258a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/332258a0
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Remarkably low host specificity in the bat fly Penicillidia fulvida (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) as assessed by mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S sequence data
Parasites & Vectors (2022)
-
Phylogenomics reveals the origin of mammal lice out of Afrotheria
Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022)
-
An Infinite Antichain of Planar Tanglegrams
Order (2022)
-
Colonization of a novel host by fleas: changes in egg production and egg size
Parasitology Research (2021)
-
Phylogenetics, patterns of genetic variation and population dynamics of Trypanosoma terrestris support both coevolution and ecological host-fitting as processes driving trypanosome evolution
Parasites & Vectors (2019)