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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\n                    <jats:italic>Paraxerus cepapi<\/jats:italic>\n                    and one of its louse species,\n                    <jats:italic>Johnsonpthirus heliosciuri<\/jats:italic>\n                    , 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 (\u03a6\n                    <jats:sub>ST<\/jats:sub>\n                    \u2009=\u20090.304,\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009&lt;\u20090.05). In stark contrast, analyses of 43 louse mitochondrial COI sequences showed a clear pattern of geographic genetic structure, with most variation occurring between populations (\u03a6\n                    <jats:sub>ST<\/jats:sub>\n                    \u2009=\u20090.797,\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009&lt;\u20090.05). Nuclear Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 1 (EF1) data revealed no geographic structure in either species. The lack of phylogeographic congruence between host and louse, as well as between mitochondrial and nuclear markers, is likely due to stochastic differences in the evolutionary rates of host and parasite DNA. In this study, the species-specific permanent parasite acted as a biological proxy, or a \u2018magnifying glass\u2019, for host phylogeography. The louse mitochondrial DNA data suggest that recent anthropogenic habitat fragmentation may indeed be limiting squirrel movement across the landscape.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00436-025-08594-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T15:47:43Z","timestamp":1769528863000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["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\u2019s bush squirrels, Paraxerus cepapi"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"125","author":[{"given":"Inge","family":"Raubenheimer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sonja","family":"Matthee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeanette","family":"Wentzel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Conrad A.","family":"Matthee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"8594_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1093\/biolinnean\/blz032","volume":"127","author":"MA Aghbolaghi","year":"2019","unstructured":"Aghbolaghi MA, Ahmadzadeh F, Kiabi BH, Keyghobadi N (2019) The permanent inhabitant of the oak trees: phylogeography and genetic structure of the Persian squirrel (Sciurus anomalus). 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