How common is ecological speciation in plant-feeding insects? A 'Higher' Nematinae perspective.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ecological speciation is a process in which a transiently resource-polymorphic species divides into two specialized sister lineages as a result of divergent selection pressures caused by the use of multiple niches or environments. Ecology-based speciation has been studied intensively in plant-feeding insects, in which both sympatric and allopatric shifts onto novel host plants could speed up diversification. However, while numerous examples of species pairs likely to have originated by resource shifts have been found, the overall importance of ecological speciation in relation to other, non-ecological speciation modes remains unknown. Here, we apply phylogenetic information on sawflies belonging to the 'Higher' Nematinae (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) to infer the frequen

SUBMITTER: Nyman T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2936908 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature