Return to Beringia: parasites reveal cryptic biogeographic history of North American pikas.

ABSTRACT: Traditional concepts of the Bering Land Bridge as a zone of predominantly eastward expansion from Eurasia and a staging area for subsequent colonization of lower latitudes in North America led to early inferences regarding biogeographic histories of North American faunas, many of which remain untested. Here we apply a host-parasite comparative phylogeographical (HPCP) approach to evaluate one such history, by testing competing biogeographic hypotheses for five lineages of host-specific parasites shared by the collared pika (Ochotona collaris) and American pika (Ochotona princeps) of North America. We determine whether the southern host species (O. princeps) was descended from a northern ancestor or vice versa. Three parasite phylogenies revealed patterns consistent with the hypothesis of a

SUBMITTER: Galbreath KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3223664 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature