A Mosaic of Chemical Coevolution in a Large Blue Butterfly

by: David R Nash, Thomas D Als, Roland Maile, Graeme R Jones, Jacobus J Boomsma

Science, Vol. 319, No. 5859. (4 January 2008), pp. 88-90.

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Abstract

Mechanisms of recognition are essential to the evolution of mutualistic and parasitic interactions between species. One such example is the larval mimicry that Maculinea butterfly caterpillars use to parasitize Myrmica ant colonies. We found that the greater the match between the surface chemistry of Maculinea alcon and two of its host Myrmica species, the more easily ant colonies were exploited. The geographic patterns of surface chemistry indicate an ongoing coevolutionary arms race between the butterflies and Myrmica rubra, which has significant genetic differentiation between populations, but not between the butterflies and a second, sympatric host, Myrmica ruginodis, which has panmictic populations. Alternative hosts may therefore provide an evolutionary refuge for a parasite during periods of counteradaptation by their preferred hosts. 10.1126/science.1149180

@article{citeulike:2201264, abstract = {Mechanisms of recognition are essential to the evolution of mutualistic and parasitic interactions between species. One such example is the larval mimicry that Maculinea butterfly caterpillars use to parasitize Myrmica ant colonies. We found that the greater the match between the surface chemistry of Maculinea alcon and two of its host Myrmica species, the more easily ant colonies were exploited. The geographic patterns of surface chemistry indicate an ongoing coevolutionary arms race between the butterflies and Myrmica rubra, which has significant genetic differentiation between populations, but not between the butterflies and a second, sympatric host, Myrmica ruginodis, which has panmictic populations. Alternative hosts may therefore provide an evolutionary refuge for a parasite during periods of counteradaptation by their preferred hosts. 10.1126/science.1149180}, author = {Nash, David R. and Als, Thomas D. and Maile, Roland and Jones, Graeme R. and Boomsma, Jacobus J. }, citeulike-article-id = {2201264}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1149180}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {coevolution, insect}, month = {January}, number = {5859}, pages = {88--90}, posted-at = {2008-01-07 00:06:36}, priority = {2}, title = {A Mosaic of Chemical Coevolution in a Large Blue Butterfly}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1149180}, volume = {319}, year = {2008} }

RIS record

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2201264 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2201264 TI - A Mosaic of Chemical Coevolution in a Large Blue Butterfly JF - Science VL - 319 IS - 5859 SP - 88 EP - 90 N2 - Mechanisms of recognition are essential to the evolution of mutualistic and parasitic interactions between species. One such example is the larval mimicry that Maculinea butterfly caterpillars use to parasitize Myrmica ant colonies. We found that the greater the match between the surface chemistry of Maculinea alcon and two of its host Myrmica species, the more easily ant colonies were exploited. The geographic patterns of surface chemistry indicate an ongoing coevolutionary arms race between the butterflies and Myrmica rubra, which has significant genetic differentiation between populations, but not between the butterflies and a second, sympatric host, Myrmica ruginodis, which has panmictic populations. Alternative hosts may therefore provide an evolutionary refuge for a parasite during periods of counteradaptation by their preferred hosts. 10.1126/science.1149180 KW - coevolution KW - insect AU - Nash, David AU - Als, Thomas AU - Maile, Roland AU - Jones, Graeme AU - Boomsma, Jacobus PY - 2008/01/04/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1149180 ER -

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