DO PARASITIC LICE EXHIBIT ENDEMISM IN PARALLEL WITH THEIR AVIAN HOSTS? A COMPARISON ACROSS NORTHERN AMAZONIAN AREAS OF ENDEMISM.

Abstract

Areas of endemism are the smallest units in biogeography and can be defined as biologically unique areas comprising taxa with common geographic limits to their distributions. High beta diversity within Amazonia is often related to turnover among these areas. For decades, evolutionary biologists have tried to comprehend the mechanisms generating and maintaining the spatial structure and high diversity of free-living Amazonian organisms, particularly birds. However, few studies have tried to analyze these patterns among their parasites. Host and parasite associations involve shared history that may allow us to better understand the fine-scale evolutionary history of the host. Here we compare the coevolutionary patterns among 2 avian host species with distinct patterns of genetic structure in northern Amazonia, Dendrocincla fuliginosa (Aves: Dendrocolaptidae) and Dixiphia pipra (Aves: Pipridae), and their ectoparasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera), Furnaricola sp. ex Dendrocincla fuliginosa, Myrsidea sp. ex Dixiphia pipra, and Tyranniphilopterus sp. ex Dixiphia pipra. We obtained sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase subunit I from hosts and parasites collected on opposite banks of the Negro and Japurá rivers, which delimit 3 areas of endemism in northern Amazonia: Napo, Jau, and Guiana. Our results demonstrate that the Negro River is a geographical barrier for both Furnaricola sp. and its avian host, Dendrocincla fuliginosa. Phylogenies of both hosts, Dendrocincla fuliginosa, and the parasites, Furnaricola sp., show monophyletic clades on opposite margins of the river that are not sister taxa. These clades have a mean uncorrected p-distance of 17.8% for Furnaricola sp. and 6.0% for Dendrocincla fuliginosa. Thus, these parasite clades constitute distinct evolutionary lineages and may even be distinct species. In contrast, Dixiphia pipra has no population structure associated with either river. Accordingly, data from their lice Myrsidea sp. indicate weak support for different clades on opposite margins of the Negro River, whereas data from their lice Tyranniphilopterus sp. indicate weak structure across the Japurá. This study is a first step toward understanding the effects of biogeographic history on permanent ectoparasites and suggests that host biogeographic history is to some extent a determinant of the parasite's history. Furthermore, the parasite's evolutionary history is an additional source of information about their hosts' evolution in this highly diverse region of northern Amazonia.