Campus Units
Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
4-2008
Journal or Book Title
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Volume
93
Issue
4
First Page
779
Last Page
797
DOI
10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00943.x
Abstract
Diversification of phytophagous insects is often associated with changes in the use of host taxa and host parts. We focus on a group of newly discovered Neotropical tephritids in the genus Blepharoneura, and report the discovery of an extraordinary number of sympatric, morphologically cryptic species, all feeding as larvae on calyces of flowers of a single functionally dioecious and highly sexually dimorphic host species (Gurania spinulosa) in eastern Ecuador. Molecular analyses of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase-I gene from flies reared from flowers of G. spinulosa reveal six distinct haplotype groups that differ by 7.2-10.1% bp (uncorrected pairwise distances; N = 624 bp). Haplotype groups correspond to six distinct and well-supported clades. Members of five clades specialize on the calyces of flowers of a particular sex: three clades comprise male flower specialists; two clades comprise female flower specialists; the sixth clade comprises generalists reared from male and female flowers. The six clades occupy significantly different morphological spaces defined by wing pigmentation patterns; however, diagnostic morphological characters were not discovered. Behavioural observations suggest specific courtship behaviours may play a role in maintaining reproductive isolation among sympatric species.
Rights
Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Condon, Marty; Adams, Dean C.; Bann, Darrin; Flaherty, Kacie; Gammons, John; Lewis, Matthew L.; Marsteller, Sara; Scheffer, Sonja J.; Serna, Francisco; and Swensen, Susan, "Uncovering Tropical Eiversity: Six Sympatric Cryptic Species of Blepharoneura (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Flowers of Gurania spinulosa (Cucurbitaceae) in Eastern Ecuador" (2008). Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Publications. 116.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/eeob_ag_pubs/116
Comments
This article is from Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 93 (2008): 779, doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00943.x.