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Regional divergence and mosaic spatial distribution of two closely related damselfly species ( Enallagma hageni and Enallagma ebrium )
Author(s) -
BOURRET A.,
McPEEK M. A.,
TURGEON J.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02418.x
Subject(s) - biology , sympatric speciation , damselfly , reproductive isolation , gene flow , ecology , assortative mating , genetic divergence , sympatry , coregonus , mating , odonata , genetic variation , genetic diversity , population , biochemistry , demography , sociology , fishery , gene , fish <actinopterygii>
North American Enallagma damselflies radiated during the Pleistocene, and species differ mainly by reproductive structures. Although morphologically very different, Enallagma hageni and Enallagma ebrium are genetically very similar. Partitioning of genetic variation (AFLP), isolation by distance and clustering analyses indicate that these morphospecies are locally differentiated genetically. Spatial analyses show that they are rarely sympatric at local sites, and their distributions form a mosaic of patches where one is clearly dominant over hundreds of square kilometers. However, these morphospecies are also not genetically more similar when they are sympatric, indicating that hybridization is probably not occurring. Given that these morphospecies are ecologically equivalent, strong assortative mating, reproductive interference and fast post‐glacial recolonization may explain the origin and maintenance of these distributional patches across eastern North America. By limiting opportunities for gene flow, reproductive interference may play an unsuspected role in accelerating genetic differentiation in the early phases of nonecological speciation.