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. 2020 Jun 18;10(13):6512-6524.
doi: 10.1002/ece3.6386. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Patterns of host-parasite associations in tropical lice and their passerine hosts in Cameroon

Magdalena Gajdošová  1   2 , Oldřich Sychra  3 , Jakub Kreisinger  1 , Ondřej Sedláček  2 , Eric Djomo Nana  4 , Tomáš Albrecht  1   5 , Pavel Munclinger  1
Affiliations

Patterns of host-parasite associations in tropical lice and their passerine hosts in Cameroon

Magdalena Gajdošová et al. Ecol Evol. .

Abstract

Coevolutionary processes that drive the patterns of host-parasite associations can be deduced through congruence analysis of their phylogenies. Feather lice and their avian hosts have previously been used as typical model systems for congruence analysis; however, such analyses are strongly biased toward nonpasserine hosts in the temperate zone. Further, in the Afrotropical region especially, cospeciation studies of lice and birds are entirely missing. This work supplements knowledge of host-parasite associations in lice using cospeciation analysis of feather lice (genus Myrsidea and the Brueelia complex) and their avian hosts in the tropical rainforests of Cameroon. Our analysis revealed a limited number of cospeciation events in both parasite groups. The parasite-host associations in both louse groups were predominantly shaped by host switching. Despite a general dissimilarity in phylogeny for the parasites and hosts, we found significant congruence in host-parasite distance matrices, mainly driven by associations between Brueelia lice and passerine species of the Waxbill (Estrildidae) family, and Myrsidea lice and their Bulbul (Pycnonotidae) host species. As such, our study supports the importance of complex biotic interactions in tropical environments.

Keywords: cospeciation; feather lice; host switching; host–parasite associations; passerines; tropical ecology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Cryptospiza reichenovii and its Myrsidea parasite
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Bayesian phylogenetic trees of Myrsidea (based on COI, wingless, 18S rDNA, and EF1α) and the Brueelia complex (based on COI, wingless, 18S rDNA, and the hypothetical protein‐coding gene). Posterior probabilities are indicated at each node
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Tanglegram of passerine hosts (left) and Myrsidea parasites (right). The five cospeciation events found in Jane are represented by circles
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Tanglegram of passerine hosts (left) and Brueelia complex parasites (right). The five cospeciation events found in Jane are represented by circles
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Contribution of individual host–parasite associations to the global codivergence signal based on Procrustes analysis of distance matrices between Myrsidea lice and their hosts (a) and Brueelia complex lice and their hosts (b). Squared residual 95% confidence intervals are shown. The dashed line indicates the median squared residual value. Bulbul (Pycnonotidae) host associations with Myrsidea lice and Waxbill (Estrildidae) host associations with Brueelia complex lice are shown in bold
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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