The relationship between diet breadth and geographic range size in the butterfly subfamily Nymphalinae--a study of global scale.

ABSTRACT: The "oscillation hypothesis" has been proposed as a general explanation for the exceptional diversification of herbivorous insect species. The hypothesis states that speciation rates are elevated through repeated correlated changes--oscillations--in degree of host plant specificity and geographic range. The aim of this study is to test one of the predictions from the oscillation hypothesis: a positive correlation between diet breadth (number of host plants used) and geographic range size, using the globally distributed butterfly subfamily Nymphalinae. Data on diet breadth and global geographic range were collected for 182 Nymphalinae butterflies species and the size of the geographic range was measured using a GIS. We tested both diet breadth and geographic range size for phylogenetic sign

SUBMITTER: Slove J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3016415 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature