Flies on thistles: support for synchronous speciation?

Abstract

Synchronous speciation of hosts and herbivorous insects predicts a congruent topology of host and insect phylogenies and similar evolutionary ages of host and insect taxa. To test these predictions for the specialized herbivorous fly genus Urophora (Diptera: Tephritidae), we used three different approaches. (i) We generated a phylogenetic tree of 11 European Urophora species from allozyme data and constructed a phylogeny of their hosts from published sources. Superimposing the Urophora tree on the host‐plant tree we found no evidence for general congruence. (ii) We correlated genetic distances (Nei distances) of the host plants vs. the genetic distances of associated Urophora species. Overall, the relationship was not positive. Nevertheless, for some pairs of Urophora species and host plants genetic distances were in the same order of magnitude. (iii) We collected allozyme data for pairs of thistle taxa and pairs of herbivores on thistles together with independent time estimates. With these data we calibrated a molecular clock. There was a non‐linear relationship between phylogenetic age and genetic distance, rendering the dating of deep events in thistle–insect evolution difficult. Nevertheless the derived molecular clock showed that the split of insect taxa lagged behind the split of hosts. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 84, 775–783.

No Concordant Phylogeographies of the Rose Gall Wasp Diplolepis rosae (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) and Two Associated Parasitoids across Europe

“…Despite these theoretical predictions the evidence for a clear concordance in the phylogeographic structure and timing of diversification of interacting species is rare [11], [12], [13]. Even related interacting species sharing the same habitat and history can differ in their genetic structure [11], [14].…”

Evolutionary dynamics of interactions between plants and their enemies: comparison of herbivorous insects and pathogens

“…Within this sample of papers, explicit description of a coevolutionary mechanism such as gene‐for‐gene processes is rare, and studies of plant traits, such as plant chemistry or physical leaf traits, predominate. These studies are often placed into a historical context where hypotheses about evolutionary processes are tested by examining phylogenies of plants and herbivores …”

“…Many studies of plant-herbivore interactions examined coevolution from an escape-and-radiate perspective, using The following references were included in each category. Escape and radiate: conceptual herbivore, 125 empirical herbivore, 12,27,28,30,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]59,60,[64][65][66][67][68][69][70] empirical pathogen, 105 empirical herbivore and pathogen. 21 Gene for gene: conceptual herbivore, 62 empirical herbivore, 49 conceptual pathogen, [71][72][73][74]84,[181][182][183][184][185][186][187][188][189][190][191][192][193][194][195][196][197][198][199] empirical pathogen, 31,[75]…”

“…These studies are often placed into a historical context where hypotheses about evolutionary processes are tested by examining phylogenies of plants and herbivores. 28,30,[64][65][66][67][68][69][70] Plant-pathogen interactions. Very few studies (n = 4) examined plant-pathogen interactions from an escape-and-radiate coevolution perspective ( Fig.…”

Testing Host-Plant Driven Speciation in Phytophagous Insects: A Phylogenetic Perspective

“…In order to test for successive burst of diversification in plants and insects, many authors have thus simply compared the timing of divergence of plants and associated insects (e. g., Brandle et al 2005;Gómez-Zurita et al 2007;Kergoat et al 2011;Kergoat et al 2015;Leppanen et al 2012;Lopez-Vaamonde et al 2006;McKenna et al 2009;McLeish et al 2013;Pena & Wahlberg 2008;Segar et al 2012;Stone et al 2009;Vea & Grimaldi 2016;Wahlberg et al 2013;Winter et al 2017). Most of these studies suggest delayed colonization of already diversified groups of plants by insects groups at different temporal scales.…”