Eichler's rule
Parasites tend to be highly specific to their hosts, thus it seems reasonable to expect a positive co-variation between the taxonomic richness of hosts and that of their parasites. Wolfdietrich Eichler[1] was the first to point out this relationship in 1942 and it was later dubbed ‘Eichler’s rule’. It is one of the first three coevolutionary rules.[2]
Recently, Vas and his co-authors[3] tested this 'rule' and concluded that exceptionally strong correlational evidence supports the positive co-variation between the species' richness of avian and mammalian families and the generic richness of their parasitic lice.
References
- ^ Eichler, W (1942). "Die Entfaltungsregel und andere Gesetzmäßigkeiten in den parasitogenetischen Beziehungen der Mallophagen und anderer ständiger Parasiten zu ihren Wirten" (PDF). Zoologischer Anzeiger. 136: 77–83.
- ^ Klassen, GJ (1992). "Coevolution: a history of the macroevolutionary approach to studying host-parasite associations". Journal of Parasitology. 78 (4): 573–87. doi:10.2307/3283532. PMID 1635016.
- ^ Vas, Z; Csorba G; Rozsa L (2012). "Evolutionary co-variation of host and parasite diversity – the first test of Eichler's rule using parasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera)" (PDF). Parasitology Research. 111: 393–401. doi:10.1007/s00436-012-2850-9.
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