Investigating patterns may reveal processes: evolutionary ecology of ectoparasitic monogeneans.
We reviewed several published and ongoing studies concerning monogenean communities. Patterns of species richness, host specificity, community structure and host--parasite coevolutionary interaction were carefully analysed, and hypotheses of evolutionary processes are proposed. The structuring of monogenean communities seems to be related to both ecological and historical constraints. The database supports an absence of intra- and interspecific competition in monogeneans. Species richness seems to be more due to host characteristics than to parasite interactions. Monogeneans seem to specialise on large hosts, leading to greater species richness on those hosts. The morphometric evolution of attachment and copulatory organs support the hypothesis of a reproductive segregation among conspecifics parasitising the same host(s). It also suggests the existence of concurrent adaptive and non-adaptive processes. The general absence of a coevolutionary pattern between host and parasites also suggests the constraints of history without dismissing the influences of ecological factors in the structuring of the communities. More generally, we strengthen the need to study the structure of communities in a phylogenetic context.