title: Flyway homogenisation or differentiation? Insights from the phylogeny of the sandpiper (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae: Calidrinae) wing louse genus Lunaceps (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera).
abstract: The wing louse genus Lunaceps, is the most speciose chewing louse (Phthiraptera) genus inhabiting sandpipers (Charadriiformes: Calidrinae) and is known from almost all sandpiper species. The hosts follow specific flyways from the Arctic breeding grounds to wintering locations in the southern hemisphere, and often form large mixed-species flocks during migration and wintering. We estimated a phylogeny of Lunaceps based on three mitochondrial loci, supporting monophyly of the genus but revealing extensive paraphyly at the species level. We also evaluated the relative importance of flyway differentiation (same host species having different lice along different flyways) and flyway homogenisation (different host species having the same lice along the same flyway). We found that while the lice of smaller sandpipers and stints show some evidence of flyway homogenisation, those of larger sandpipers do not. No investigated host species migrating along more than one flyway showed any evidence of flyway differentiation. The host-parasite associations within Lunaceps are in no case monophyletic, rejecting strict cospeciation.
authors.affiliation: Systematics and Biodiversity, Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 463, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. daniel.gustafsson@zool.gu.se
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.forename: Urban
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Olsson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D046091:Charadriiformes / Q000469:parasitology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D058326:Ischnocera / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000662:veterinary*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial