Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of a species-specific sucking louse, Johnsonpthirus heliosciuri, act as a proxy to provide insights into the population connectivity of its host, smith's bush squirrels, Paraxerus cepapi.

Inge Raubenheimer, Sonja Matthee, Jeanette Wentzel, Conrad A Matthee

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Parasitology research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Inge RaubenheimerDepartment of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa.

Sonja MattheeDepartment of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa.

Jeanette WentzelDepartment of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, South Africa.

Conrad A MattheeEvolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa. cam@sun.ac.za.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Due to co-evolution, permanent species-specific lice and their hosts often exhibit congruent phylogenetic patterns, and to a lesser extent also congruent phylogeographic structures. However, because ectoparasites generally have smaller effective population sizes (due to their aggregated distribution), and they have a faster evolutionary rate (generation time effect), their phylogeographic structures are often more pronounced. This study investigates the phylogeographic structure of a squirrel Paraxerus cepapi and one of its louse species, Johnsonpthirus heliosciuri, sampled from eight localities in South Africa. Statistical haplotype networks derived from 51 host mitochondrial DNA control region sequences revealed a lack of geographic genetic structure among sampling sites, with most genetic variation found within populations (Φ

Indexed as

AnopluraDNA, MitochondrialLice InfestationsSciuridaeAnimalsGenetic VariationHaplotypesPhylogenyPhylogeographySequence Analysis, DNASouth AfricaDNA, MitochondrialAnopluraCo-evolutionEvolutionary historyGenetic structurePermanent parasiteSciuridae, south africa

Identifiers

PMID41591492

DOI10.1007/s00436-025-08594-x

PMCPMC12847080

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.