Competition among host-specific lineages of Poecilochirus carabi mites influences the extent of co-adaptation with their Nicrophorus vespilloides burying beetle hosts.

ABSTRACT: Reciprocal selection between symbiotic organisms and their hosts can generate variations in local adaptation between them. Symbionts often form species complexes with lineages partially adapted to various hosts. However, it is unclear how interactions among these lineages influences geographic variation in the extent of host-symbiont local adaptation. We addressed this shortcoming with experiments on burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides and their specialist phoretic mite Poecilochirus carabi in two adjacent woodlands. Burying beetles transport these mites to vertebrate carrion upon which they both reproduce. P. carabi appears to be a species complex, with distinct lineages that specialise on breeding alongside different Nicrophorus species. We found that in

SUBMITTER: Sun SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10771929 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature