Asexual multiplication of larval parasitic worms: a predictor of adult life-history traits in Taeniidae?

2001

The hypothesis that asexual multiplication inside the intermediate host and adult life-history traits within the final host are independent is tested among Cestoda. Using phylogenetic relationships among the Cestoda species, we can show that asexual multiplication appears to have been lost and recovered several times throughout Taeniidae evolution; this allows a comparison of the adult life-history traits of species with and without asexual multiplication at the larval stage. The adult trait considered is the size of the parasite, since numerous life-history traits, such as fecundity and longevity, are correlated with size. If adult traits are independent of whether the larval stage reprodu…