Open AccessUncovering tropical diversity: six sympatric cryptic species of Blepharoneura (Diptera: Tephritidae) in flowers of Gurania spinulosa (Cucurbitaceae) in eastern Ecuador
Author(s) -
CONDON MARTY,
ADAMS DEAN C.,
BANN DARRIN,
FLAHERTY KACIE,
GAMMONS JOHN,
JOHNSON JESSICA,
LEWIS MATTHEW L.,
MARSTELLER SARA,
SCHEFFER SONJA J.,
SERNA FRANCISCO,
SWENSEN SUSAN
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
biological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.906
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1095-8312
pISSN - 0024-4066
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00943.x
Subject(s) - biology , sympatric speciation , tephritidae , clade , reproductive isolation , zoology , species complex , taxon , evolutionary biology , botany , phylogenetics , phylogenetic tree , population , gene , genetics , pest analysis , demography , sociology
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. Journal compilation © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2008, 93 , 779–797. No claim to original US government works.