Host selection and niche differentiation in sucking lice (Insecta: Anoplura) among small mammals in southwestern China.
Summary of "Host selection and niche differentiation in sucking lice (Insecta: Anoplura) among small mammals in southwestern China."
Understanding factors that shape host selection has been a classic issue in ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiological investigation. During the survey from 2000 to 2009, a total of 11,216 individuals of small mammals were captured from Yunnan Province in southwestern China. The captured small mammalian hosts belong to five orders, ten families, 35 genera, and 65 species and from their body surface, 38,885 individuals of ectoparasitic sucking lice were collected, which represent five families, seven genera, and 31 species. Based on niche overlap of dominant sucking lice on their primary hosts, we used hierarchical cluster analysis to sort different sucking louse species' resource utilizations of similar kind into respective categories. Given λ < 5, there are only two groups clustered, however, sucking louse species' resource utilization was sorted into eight respective categories at λ = 15. The results revealed that most species of sucking lice usually had high host specificity and a certain species of sucking louse usually restricted to one or few small mammalian species as their dominant hosts. Correspondence analysis was used to visualize associations between parasitic sucking lice and their small mammalian hosts, which suggested three different patterns of host resource utilization: species specialists, genera generalists, and multiple selections. For example, Sathrax durus (Johnson) only parasitized on species of Tupaia belangeri (Wagner), Hoplopleura edentula (Fahredholz) predominatly on genus of Eothenomys, and Polyplax reclinata (Nitzsch) on Family of Soricidae. Our results demonstrate that sucking lice have high host specificity and this might be due to coevolution between sucking lice and their hosts.
Affiliation
Institute of Pathogens and Vectors, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, 671000, China.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Parasitology research
ISSN: 1432-1955
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21140167
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-2173-7
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Lice
A general name for small, wingless, parasitic insects, previously of the order Phthiraptera. Though exact taxonomy is still controversial, they can be grouped in the orders ANOPLURA (sucking lice), MALLOPHAGA (biting lice), and Rhynchophthirina (elephant-lice).
Phthiraptera
An order of small, wingless parasitic insects, commonly known as lice. The suborders include ANOPLURA (sucking lice); AMBLYCERA; ISCHNOCERA; and Rhynchophthirina (elephant and warthog lice).
Anoplura
An order of insects comprising the sucking lice, which are blood-sucking ectoparasites of mammals. Recognized families include: Echinphthiriidae, Haematopinidae, and Pediculidae. The latter contains the medically important genera affecting humans: PEDICULUS and PHTHIRUS.
Sucking Behavior
Any suction exerted by the mouth; response of the mammalian infant to draw milk from the breast. Includes sucking on inanimate objects. Not to be used for thumb sucking, which is indexed under fingersucking.
Mallophaga
An order of insects comprising the chewing lice or biting lice, many of which are parasitic on wild birds and domestic fowl and on wild and domestic mammals. Suborders include Amblycera and Ischnocera.
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