Patterns of genetic variation in a group of parasites, the Australian reptile ticks

Abstract

In this paper isoenzyme variation in six species of Australian reptile ticks is used to examine a hypothesis, proposed by Price (1977), that populations of parasites will diverge more rapidly from each other than populations of non-parasites. The data support Price’s prediction that parasite populations have low levels of genetic variability. The average heterozygosity per locus was less than 2.5 per cent in each reptile tick species, compared with a mean value of 11.23 per cent for 93 non-parasitic invertebrates (Nevo 1978). Price also predicted large genetic variation between parasite populations, but this was not normally the case within reptile tick species. Where genetic distance was large between populations it could be explained by processes which were not unique to parasites. © 1984 The Genetical Society of Great Britain.