Institute of Pathogens and Vectors, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, 671000, China.
Parasitol Res. 2011 May;108(5):1243-51. doi: 10.1007/s00436-010-2173-7. Epub 2010 Dec 8.
Understanding factors that shape host selection has been a classic issue in ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiological investigation. During the survey from 2000 to 2009, a total of 11,216 individuals of small mammals were captured from Yunnan Province in southwestern China. The captured small mammalian hosts belong to five orders, ten families, 35 genera, and 65 species and from their body surface, 38,885 individuals of ectoparasitic sucking lice were collected, which represent five families, seven genera, and 31 species. Based on niche overlap of dominant sucking lice on their primary hosts, we used hierarchical cluster analysis to sort different sucking louse species' resource utilizations of similar kind into respective categories. Given λ<5, there are only two groups clustered, however, sucking louse species' resource utilization was sorted into eight respective categories at λ=15. The results revealed that most species of sucking lice usually had high host specificity and a certain species of sucking louse usually restricted to one or few small mammalian species as their dominant hosts. Correspondence analysis was used to visualize associations between parasitic sucking lice and their small mammalian hosts, which suggested three different patterns of host resource utilization: species specialists, genera generalists, and multiple selections. For example, Sathrax durus (Johnson) only parasitized on species of Tupaia belangeri (Wagner), Hoplopleura edentula (Fahredholz) predominatly on genus of Eothenomys, and Polyplax reclinata (Nitzsch) on Family of Soricidae. Our results demonstrate that sucking lice have high host specificity and this might be due to coevolution between sucking lice and their hosts.
理解影响宿主选择的因素一直是生态学、进化生物学和流行病学研究的经典问题。在 2000 年至 2009 年的调查中，从中国西南部的云南省共捕获了 11216 只小型哺乳动物。捕获的小型哺乳动物宿主属于五个目、十个科、35 个属和 65 个种，从它们的体表采集到 38885 只吸血虱寄生体，它们代表五个科、七个属和 31 个种。基于主要宿主上优势吸血虱的生态位重叠，我们使用层次聚类分析将相似种类的不同吸血虱物种的资源利用方式分类到各自的类别中。由于 λ<5，只有两组聚类，但当 λ=15 时，吸血虱物种的资源利用方式被分为八个类别。结果表明，大多数吸血虱物种通常具有高度的宿主特异性，并且某些吸血虱物种通常局限于一种或少数几种小型哺乳动物作为其主要宿主。对应分析用于可视化寄生吸血虱与其小型哺乳动物宿主之间的关联，这表明宿主资源利用有三种不同的模式：物种专化、属特化和多种选择。例如，Sathrax durus (Johnson) 仅寄生在 Tupaia belangeri (Wagner) 物种上，Hoplopleura edentula (Fahredholz) 主要寄生在 Eothenomys 属上，而 Polyplax reclinata (Nitzsch) 则寄生在 Soricidae 科上。我们的结果表明，吸血虱具有高度的宿主特异性，这可能是吸血虱与其宿主之间的共同进化所致。
