Parasite escape mechanisms drive morphological diversification in avian lice.

Proc Biol Sci

Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.

Published: March 2024

AI Article Synopsis

  • - The study investigates how parasitic feather lice have evolved similar physical traits (ecomorphs) due to similar ecological pressures on different bird hosts, allowing for analysis of specific morphological changes.
  • - Researchers measured traits like muscle volume, limb length, and head shape using advanced imaging techniques to identify the characteristics associated with each ecomorph and differences between them.
  • - Results show that while lice evolve similar traits to avoid detection by their hosts, those living alongside other lice species tend to become more morphologically distinct, suggesting competition influences their evolution.

Article Abstract

Organisms that have repeatedly evolved similar morphologies owing to the same selective pressures provide excellent cases in which to examine specific morphological changes and their relevance to the ecology and evolution of taxa. Hosts of permanent parasites act as an independent evolutionary experiment, as parasites on these hosts are thought to be undergoing similar selective pressures. Parasitic feather lice have repeatedly diversified into convergent ecomorphs in different microhabitats on their avian hosts. We quantified specific morphological characters to determine (i) which traits are associated with each ecomorph, (ii) the quantitative differences between these ecomorphs, and (iii) if there is evidence of displacement among co-occurring lice as might be expected under louse-louse competition on the host. We used nano-computed tomography scan data of 89 specimens, belonging to four repeatedly evolved ecomorphs, to examine their mandibular muscle volume, limb length and three-dimensional head shape data. Here, we find evidence that lice repeatedly evolve similar morphologies as a mechanism to escape host defences, but also diverge into different ecomorphs related to the way they escape these defences. Lice that co-occur with other genera on a host exhibit greater morphological divergence, indicating a potential role of competition in evolutionary divergence.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10965332PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2665DOI Listing

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