Macroscale evolutionary patterns of flight muscle dimorphism in the carrion beetle Necrophila japonica.

ABSTRACT: Some insect species exhibit polymorphisms in flight muscles or wings, which provide opportunities for studying the factors that drive dispersal polymorphisms and the evolution of flightlessness in insects. We investigated the macroscale evolutionary pattern of flightlessness in the widespread Japanese beetle Necrophila japonica (Coleoptera: Silphidae), which exhibits flight muscle dimorphisms using phylogeographic approaches. N. japonica lives in both stable and unstable habitats, and the flight muscle dimorphisms may have been maintained through the use of these diverse habitats. We studied the distribution pattern of the proportion of individuals lacking flight muscles in relation to the genetic differentiation among geographic populations using an 842-base pair sequence of the COI-II ge

SUBMITTER: Ikeda H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3287380 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature