Host plant utilization, host range oscillations and diversification in nymphalid butterflies: a phylogenetic investigation.

ABSTRACT: It has been suggested that phenotypic plasticity is a major factor in the diversification of life, and that variation in host range in phytophagous insects is a good model for investigating this claim. We explore the use of angiosperm plants as hosts for nymphalid butterflies, and in particular the evidence for past oscillations in host range and how they are linked to host shifts and to diversification. At the level of orders of plants, a relatively simple pattern of host use and host shifts emerges, despite the 100 million years of history of the family Nymphalidae. We review the evidence that these host shifts and the accompanying diversifications were associated with transient polyphagous stages, as suggested by the "oscillation hypothesis." In addition, we investigate all currently po

SUBMITTER: Nylin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3912913 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature