Selection on male sex pheromone composition contributes to butterfly reproductive isolation.
Author
Summary, in English
Selection can facilitate diversification by inducing character displacement in mate choice traits that reduce the probability of maladaptive mating between lineages. Although reproductive character displacement (RCD) has been demonstrated in two-taxa case studies, the frequency of this process in nature is still debated. Moreover, studies have focused primarily on visual and acoustic traits, despite the fact that chemical communication is probably the most common means of species recognition. Here, we showed in a large, mostly sympatric, butterfly genus, a strong pattern of recurrent RCD for predicted male sex pheromone composition, but not for visual mate choice traits. Our results suggest that RCD is not anecdotal, and that selection for divergence in male sex pheromone composition contributed to reproductive isolation within the Bicyclus genus. We propose that selection may target olfactory mate choice traits as a more common sensory modality to ensure reproductive isolation among diverging lineages than previously envisaged.
Department/s
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Publication/Series
Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
Volume
282
Issue
1804
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Royal Society Publishing
Topic
- Zoology
Status
Published
Project
- Evolutionary mechanisms of pheromone divergence in Lepidoptera
Research group
- Pheromone Group
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1471-2954