Pentastomes, or tongue worms, are parasitic crustaceans that primarily infect the respiratory tracts of their hosts. These parasites commonly infect vertebrates, including reptiles, mammals, and amphibians, with snakes most often serving as their definitive hosts. The introduction of the non-native pentastome Raillietiella orientalis to South Florida has led to its rapid geographical expansion and invasion of naïve host species, causing …
Biology Department CalendarConvergent evolution, the independent emergence of similar traits across unrelated lineages due to shared environmental pressures, offers unique insights into adaptive evolution. In parasitoid Braconidae wasps, convergence is hypothesized to be driven by the diverse biological and ecological traits of their insect hosts, which are variable in their accessibility, life stage, and taxa. However, while host-driven convergence in Braconidae has …
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