Morphological changes in female reproductive organs in the African monarch butterfly, host to a male-killing Spiroplasma.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sexual selection and conflicts within and between sexes promote morphological diversity of reproductive traits within species. Variation in the morphology of diagnostic reproductive characters within species offer an excellent opportunity to study these evolutionary processes as drivers of species diversification. The African monarch, Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758), is widespread across Africa. The species is polytypic, with the respective geographical ranges of the four colour morphs only overlapping in East Africa. Furthermore, some of the populations host an endosymbiotic bacterium, Spiroplasma, which induces son-killing and distorts the local host population sex-ratio, creating sexual conflicts between the females seeking to optimize their fecundity

SUBMITTER: Malmberg J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10437039 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature