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Fig. 4 | BMC Ecology

Fig. 4

From: Quantifying the unquantifiable: why Hymenoptera, not Coleoptera, is the most speciose animal order

Fig. 4

Known genus-specialist parasitoids can be used to calculate a minimum P:H ratio for an insect host genus. The focal beetle genus H (three species) has four known parasitoids, P1–P4. P1 and P4 are relatively well-studied, and known to be genus-specialists, attacking only hosts in this beetle genus. P3 has some known extra-generic hosts, while the host range of P2 is poorly studied and unknown extra-generic hosts may exist. For the purposes of estimating a genus-specialist P:H, one would therefore use only P1 and P4, such that a minimum P:H for this beetle genus would be 2/3, or 0.67. Note that if the total number and identities of extra-generic hosts were known for P2 and P3, a “true” P:H for the genus could be calculated (see “Synthesis”)

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