Parasites are often dependent on their hosts for survival and dispersal and this led to a hypothesis that the evolution of obligate permanent host‐specific parasites specifically will show phylogenetic congruence with their hosts. To investigate the factors influencing parasite evolution, mitochondrial‐ and nuclear DNA sequence data were used to test for genetic co‐divergences between Hoplopleura and Polyplax lice occurring on four rodent taxa associated with the Aethomys/Micaelamys rodent complex. Mitochondrial DNA haplotype networks drawn from 24 rodents and 74 obligate permanent lice supported the existence of at least eight genetically distinct parasite lineages. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses showed considerable congruence between the phylogenies of the parasites and their hosts, and these finding were also partly supported in a fair amount of overlap in the timing of divergences. Jane co‐phylogenetic reconstructions illustrated that co‐divergences are the most parsimonious solution to explain the evolution within Polyplax, and also within Hoplopleura. Based on mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequence distances of >13% between strongly supported monophyletic parasite lineages, coupled to some unique morphological features detected for both lice taxa occurring on Micaelamys granti, we propose that the taxonomy of Polyplax and Hoplopleura studied herein is in need of revision. In addition, our findings provide examples of perfect topological co‐divergence between parasites and their hosts, and in doing so also provide circumstantial evidence for co‐evolution between these permanent host‐specific parasites and their hosts. We argue that the signal of co‐divergence is partly enforced by limited opportunities for host switching events across the landscape.

中文翻译：

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寄生吸虱及其啮齿动物宿主的进化史：进化共同分歧的一个案例

寄生虫通常依赖于它们的宿主来生存和传播，这导致了一种假设，即专性永久性宿主特异性寄生虫的进化将特别显示出与其宿主的系统发育一致性。为了研究影响寄生虫进化的因素，使用线粒体和核 DNA 序列数据来测试发生在与 Aethomys/Micaelamys 啮齿动物复合体相关的四种啮齿动物分类群上的 Hoplopleura 和 Polyplax 虱子之间的遗传共同差异。来自 24 只啮齿动物和 74 只专性永久性虱子的线粒体 DNA 单倍型网络支持至少存在 8 种基因不同的寄生虫谱系。贝叶斯和最大似然分析显示寄生虫与其宿主的系统发育之间存在相当大的一致性，这些发现也部分地得到了分歧时间上相当多的重叠的支持。Jane 共同系统发育重建表明，共同发散是解释 Polyplax 以及 Hoplopleura 内部进化的最简单的解决方案。基于线粒体 DNA 细胞色素氧化酶亚基 I 序列距离在强烈支持的单系寄生虫谱系之间 >13%，再加上在 Micaelamys granti 上检测到的两种虱子分类群的一些独特的形态特征，我们建议本文研究的 Polyplax 和 Hoplopleura 的分类学在需要修改。此外，我们的发现提供了寄生虫与其宿主之间完美拓扑协同发散的例子，并且这样做也为这些永久性宿主特异性寄生虫与其宿主之间的共同进化提供了间接证据。我们认为，共同发散的信号部分是由于整个景观中宿主转换事件的机会有限。