Dauer larva

Dauer (German "die Dauer", English "the endurance", "persistence"; "unlimited time") describes an alternative developmental stage of nematode worms. The larva goes into a type of stasis and can survive harsh conditions. The entrance of the dauer stage is dependent on environmental cues, it represents a classic and well studied example of polyphenism. Dauer larvae are extensively studied by biologists because of their ability to survive harsh environments and live for extended periods of time. For example, C. elegans dauer larvae can survive up to four months, much longer than their average lifespan of about three weeks during normal reproductive development. The dauer hypothesis is a theory of evolutionary theory. It proposes that free-living nemode lineages evolved into parasites through two major steps, phoresy, necromeny and necrosy. Models of parasitic evolution are difficult because they are difficult to test and test methods of other methods of evolution are hard to test. The theory is named after the alternative, “dauer parasitism,” named after ‘dauer’ in the alternative to ‘ parasitism’.