On a generalized Chu–Vandermonde identity.

In the present paper we introduce a generalization of the well–known Chu–Vandermonde identity. In particular, by inductive reasoning, the identity is extended to a multivariate setup in terms of the fourth Lauricella function. The main interest in such generalizations derives from the species diversity estimation and, in particular, prediction problems in Genomics and Ecology within a Bayesian nonparametric framework.