Search results for "digenean"

Digeneans of cetaceans: taxonomy, evolutionary history and host specificity.

2016

Parasitism is an extremely successful lifestyle among animals. In fact, every free-living organism is believed to harbour at least a parasite species, and cetaceans are not the exception. Host-parasite systems offer a suitable model for studying systematics, evolution, biogeography and ecology because the evolutionary fate of parasites is linked to that of their hosts. In particular, present-day associations between cetaceans and their parasites have been shaped by unique historical events. The parasites of the terrestrial ancestors of cetaceans likely faced an ecological barrier when their hosts colonized the marine environment; it is postulated that during the process terrestrial parasite…