Study of bird lice shows how evolution sometimes repeats
itself
Birds of a feather flock together and – according to a new
analysis – so do their lice.
A study of the genetic heritage of avian feather lice
indicates that their louse ancestors first colonized a particular group of
birds (ducks or songbirds, for example) and then “radiated” to different
habitats on those birds – to the wings or heads, for instance, where they
evolved into different species. This finding surprised the researchers because
wing lice from many types of birds look more similar to one another than they
do to head or body lice living on the same birds.
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