A synopsis of the obligate and facultative insect parasitic nematodes

Fossils of parasites: what can the fossil record tell us about the evolution of parasitism?

Parasites are common in many ecosystems, yet because of their nature, they do not fossilise readily and are very rare in the geological record. This makes it challenging to study the evolutionary transition that led to the evolution of parasitism in different taxa. Most studies on the evolution of parasites are based on phylogenies of extant species that were constructed based on morphological and molecular data, but they give us an incomplete picture and offer little information on many important details of parasite-host interactions. The lack of fossil parasites also means we know very little about the roles that parasites played in ecosystems of the past even though it is known that parasites have significant influences on many ecosystems. The goal of this review is to bring attention to known fossils of parasites and parasitism, and provide a conceptual framework for how research on fossil parasites can develop in the future. Despite their rarity, there are some fossil parasites which have been described from different geological eras. These fossils include the free-living stage of parasites, parasites which became fossilised with their hosts, parasite eggs and propagules in coprolites, and traces of pathology inflicted by parasites on the host's body. Judging from the fossil record, while there were some parasite-host relationships which no longer exist in the present day, many parasite taxa which are known from the fossil record seem to have remained relatively unchanged in their general morphology and their patterns of host association over tens or even hundreds of millions of years. It also appears that major evolutionary and ecological transitions throughout the history of life on Earth coincided with the appearance of certain parasite taxa, as the appearance of new host groups also provided new niches for potential parasites. As such, fossil parasites can provide additional data regarding the ecology of their extinct hosts, since many parasites have specific life cycles and transmission modes which reflect certain aspects of the host's ecology. The study of fossil parasites can be conducted using existing techniques in palaeontology and palaeoecology, and microscopic examination of potential material such as coprolites may uncover more fossil evidence of parasitism. However, I also urge caution when interpreting fossils as examples of parasites or parasitism-induced traces. I point out a number of cases where parasitism has been spuriously attributed to some fossil specimens which, upon re-examination, display traits which are just as (if not more) likely to be found in free-living taxa. The study of parasite fossils can provide a more complete picture of the ecosystems and evolution of life throughout Earth's history.

Ploidy and the evolution of parasitism

Levels of parasitism are continuously distributed in nature. Models of host-parasite coevolution, however, typically assume that species can be easily characterized as either parasitic or non-parasitic. Consequently, it is poorly understood which factors influence the evolution of parasitism itself. We investigate how ploidy level and the genetic mechanisms underlying infection influence evolution along the continuum of parasitism levels. In order for parasitism to evolve, selective benefits to the successful invasion of hosts must outweigh the losses when encountering resistant hosts. However, we find that exactly where this threshold occurs depends not only on the strength of selection, but also on the genetic model of interaction, the ploidy level in each species, and the nature of the costs to virulence and resistance. With computer simulations, we are able to incorporate more realistic dynamics at the loci underlying species interactions and to extend our analyses in a number of directions, including finite population sizes, multiple alleles and different generation times.