Bedbugs Evolved before Their Bat Hosts and Did Not Co-speciate with Ancient Humans
Language English Country Great Britain, England Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PubMed
31104934
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2019.04.048
PII: S0960-9822(19)30477-4
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- Keywords
- Ashford hypothesis, Chiroptera, bedbug, evolution of generalism, hematophagy, human parasite, specialization, speciation,
- MeSH
- Chiroptera genetics parasitology MeSH
- Cimicidae genetics physiology MeSH
- Phylogeny * MeSH
- Host-Parasite Interactions * MeSH
- Biological Coevolution * MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
All 100+ bedbug species (Cimicidae) are obligate blood-sucking parasites [1, 2]. In general, blood sucking (hematophagy) is thought to have evolved in generalist feeders adventitiously taking blood meals [3, 4], but those cimicid taxa currently considered ancestral are putative host specialists [1, 5]. Bats are believed to be the ancestral hosts of cimicids [1], but a cimicid fossil [6] predates the oldest known bat fossil [7] by >30 million years (Ma). The bedbugs that parasitize humans [1, 8] are host generalists, so their evolution from specialist ancestors is incompatible with the "resource efficiency" hypothesis and only partially consistent with the "oscillation" hypothesis [9-16]. Because quantifying host shift frequencies of hematophagous specialists and generalists may help to predict host associations when vertebrate ranges expand by climate change [17], livestock, and pet trade in general and because of the previously proposed role of human pre-history in parasite speciation [18-20], we constructed a fossil-dated, molecular phylogeny of the Cimicidae. This phylogeny places ancestral Cimicidae to 115 mya as hematophagous specialists with lineages that later frequently populated bat and bird lineages. We also found that the clades, including the two major current urban pests, Cimex lectularius and C. hemipterus, separated 47 mya, rejecting the notion that the evolutionary trajectories of Homo caused their divergence [18-21]. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
CimexStore Prior's Loft Coleford Road Tidenham Chepstow Monmouthshire NP16 7JD UK
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences University of Sheffield Western Bank Sheffield S10 2TN UK
Department of Biology Cuyahoga Community College 1000 W Pleasant Valley Road Parma OH 44130 USA
Montana Institute on Ecosystems Montana State University 605 Leon Johnson Hall Bozeman MT 59717 USA
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