Parasitism of Plant and Animal Hybrids: Are Facts and Fates the Same?

This review analyzes the few studies on parasitism in natural animal hybrid zones, and compares the results to genetic and evolutionary hypotheses tested on plant models. Some differences are stressed concerning the involvement of environmental variables, the intrinsic resistance mechanisms, and the evolutionary schools of thought of botanists and zoologists. However, this comparison mostly emphasizes the similarities between the parasite distributions in hybrid populations, the genetic modes of the hybrid compatibility/resistance, and the evolutionary implications of the two systems. This preliminary analysis not only points out the need to diversify the parasite models studied for both plants and animals, but also emphasizes the relevance of animal models to progress in the understanding of the hybridization process and the host–parasite interactions.