Some pathways and factors of monogenean microevolution

Abstract

This paper discusses probable causes for the origin and evolution of groups of monogenean congeneric sibling species infecting one fish host species, with special reference to freshwater fishes. These causes comprise strict specificity, topological differentiation of parasite micropopulations in microniches (microhabitats), ecological and geographic isolation of various parasite and host populations, paleogeographic or geomorphologic (but not paleogeologic) changes during the late Tertiary and Quaternary periods, with alternating marine transgressions and regressions acting upon continents which, after the Miocene, have been less affected by continental drift, orogenesis, and climatic fluctuations. Co-evolving with their hosts, Monogenea usually diverge faster than their hosts.