A role for both ecology and geography as mechanisms of genetic differentiation in specialized butterflies

Downey, Michelle H.; Nice, Chris C.

doi:10.1007/s10682-012-9626-7

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Shifts in host-plant associations are found in many herbivorous insects, such as butterflies, in which it is often considered one of the main mechanisms producing their observed diversity 9 – 11 . However, in order to drive differential selection, the host-plant association character (most importantly adaptation to its defense secondary metabolites) should be inherited, variable, and conferring a local advantage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomics of extreme ecological specialists: multiple convergent evolution but no genetic divergence between ecotypes of Maculinea alcon butterflies

Koubínová

Dincă

Dapporto

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Biotic interactions are often acknowledged as catalysers of genetic divergence and eventual explanation of processes driving species richness. We address the question, whether extreme ecological specialization is always associated with lineage sorting, by analysing polymorphisms in morphologically similar ecotypes of the myrmecophilous butterfly Maculinea alcon. The ecotypes occur in either hygric or xeric habitats, use different larval host plants and ant species, but no significant distinctive molecular traits have been revealed so far. We apply genome-wide RAD-sequencing to specimens originating from both habitats across Europe in order to get a view of the potential evolutionary processes at work. Our results confirm that genetic variation is mainly structured geographically but not ecologically — specimens from close localities are more related to each other than populations of each ecotype from distant localities. However, we found two loci for which the association with xeric versus hygric habitats is supported by segregating alleles, suggesting convergent evolution of habitat preference. Thus, ecological divergence between the forms probably does not represent an early stage of speciation, but may result from independent recurring adaptations involving few genes. We discuss the implications of these results for conservation and suggest preserving biotic interactions and main genetic clusters.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomics of extreme ecological specialists: multiple convergent evolution but no genetic divergence between ecotypes of Maculinea alcon butterflies

Koubínová

Dincă

Dapporto

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…Genetic diversity indices for each sampling site of N. fusca are lower than those of other butterflies (de Jong et al 2011;Sielezniew et al 2011;Downey and Nice 2013;Bossart and Antwi 2013;Sakamoto et al 2015), and are similar to those of introduced butterfly populations (Wu et al 2010). Some butterflies that parasitize ant nests also exhibit low genetic diversity (Ugelvig et al 2011;Sielezniew et al 2012;Pellissier et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Genetic differentiation in the endangered myrmecophilous butterfly Niphanda fusca: a comparison of natural and secondary habitats

et al. 2015

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Niphanda fusca is an endangered myrmecophilous butterfly inhabiting environments at early stages of succession. Most of its habitats are places where succession is prevented by human activity. In some places, however, N. fusca lives in natural semi-bare areas, such as cliffs in mountains or grasslands around volcanos. We investigate the genetic structure of N. fusca in Japan and South Korea to address two questions. 1) Are populations in natural environments genetically different from those in secondary environments? and 2) Do populations in natural environments possess greater genetic diversity than those in secondary environments? The AMOVA results indicated that the populations in natural environments and those in secondary environments were differentiated to some extent; however, more than 80% of genetic variation was found to occur within the same habitat type and within each population. We found no differences in genetic diversity between populations in the two environments. At present, we have not found a strong reason to consider populations in the two environments as different evolutionarily significant units. We think it is practical to conserve populations in natural environments at first, because in this case we need not manage habitats to protect N. fusca. We have only to inhibit habitat destruction. In contrast, in order to conserve populations in secondary environments, we would have to continue managing the habitats. This is far more difficult than inhibiting habitat destruction.

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Molecular taxonomy of Tomares hairstreaks (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Theclinae)

Nazari¹,

Hagen²

2020

DEZ

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Tomares hairstreaks comprise about 10 species distributed from Europe and North Africa to Central Asia. The taxonomy of the genus is hampered by the absence of diagnostic characters by which specimens can be unambiguously assigned to species. Our investigation of morphology and DNA barcode variations within and between Tomares species shows that while well-defined species (T. ballus, T. mauritanicus, T. callimachus, T. desinens and T. fedtschenkoi) diverge, poorly characterized taxa (T. nogelii, T. nesimachus, T. dobrogensis, T. romanovi and T. telemachus) show very little to no differentiation in mtDNA. We reinstate Tomares callimachus spp. hafis (Kollar, 1849) as a valid subspecies (stat. rev.) and propose taxa telemachus Zhdanko, 2000 and uighurica Koçak, Seven & Kemal, 2000 as synonyms of T. romanovi and T. nogelii nogelii respectively (syn. nov). We relegate Polyommatus epiphania Boisduval, 1848, recently revived as a valid subspecies of T. callimachus, back to synonymy under the latter, and reconsider the status of T. nogelii dobrogensis (Caradja, 1895) in the light of new molecular data. We use a nuclear gene (EF-1α) in addition to COI barcodes to reconstruct the phylogeny of the group.

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A role for both ecology and geography as mechanisms of genetic differentiation in specialized butterflies

Cited by 3 publications

References 42 publications

Genomics of extreme ecological specialists: multiple convergent evolution but no genetic divergence between ecotypes of Maculinea alcon butterflies

Genomics of extreme ecological specialists: multiple convergent evolution but no genetic divergence between ecotypes of Maculinea alcon butterflies

Genetic differentiation in the endangered myrmecophilous butterfly Niphanda fusca: a comparison of natural and secondary habitats

Molecular taxonomy of Tomares hairstreaks (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Theclinae)

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