In 1973, Leigh Van Valen proposed the term "Red Queen," which he took from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, to describe a scenario where a species involved in one or more evolutionary arms races would have to constantly change just to keep pace with the species with which it was co-evolving.
En 1973, Leigh Van Valen propuxo o termo "Raíña Vermella," que tomou do libro Alicia do outro lado do espello (Through the Looking-Glass) de Lewis Carroll, para describir un escenario no que unha especie implicada nunha (ou máis) carreira de armamentos evolutiva tería que cambiar constantemente só para manterse ao mesmo nivel das especies coas cales estaba coevolucionando.