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Patterns of Phenotypic Divergence in Wing Covariance Structure of Calopterygid Damselflies

På svenska

Author

  • Fabrice Eroukhmanoff
  • David Outomuro
  • Francisco J. Ocharan
  • Erik Svensson

Summary, in English

Comparing species differences in covariance patterns of traits subject to divergent selection pressures can increase our understanding to the mechanisms of phenotypic divergence. Different species of calopterygid damselflies have diverged in the melanized wing patch of males. This trait serves multiple ecological functions and has behavioral consequences in terms of sexual selection, interspecific interactions, reproductive isolation. We compared the phenotypic variance-covariance matrices (P) of wing traits among nine populations of four European species of calopterygid damselflies. We found modest divergence in covariance structure among populations of the same species, but strong divergence between species. Interestingly, the orientation of the first eigenvector of P (P (max) ) differed more between closely related species than between distantly related species, although this pattern was absent when overall covariance structures were compared. We also found that distantly related species but geographically closer had converged towards a similar covariance structure. Finally, divergence in covariance structure was correlated with divergence in wing patch length, but not with other wing traits. This last finding suggests that divergent selection on wing patch length might have affected the stability of P. These results indicate that P might not only reflect ancestral developmental pathways but might also be influenced by current ecology.

Publishing year

2009

Language

English

Pages

214-224

Publication/Series

Evolutionary Biology

Volume

36

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • Wing morphology
  • Speciation
  • P-matrix
  • Phenotypic integration
  • Phenotypic plasticity

Status

Published

Research group

  • Evolution and Ecology of Phenotypes in Nature

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0071-3260