From ground pools to treeholes: convergent evolution of habitat and phenotype in Aedes mosquitoes.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Invasive mosquito species are responsible for millions of vector-borne disease cases annually. The global invasive success of Aedes mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus has relied on the human transport of immature stages in container habitats. However, despite the importance of these mosquitoes and this ecological specialization to their widespread dispersal, evolution of habitat specialization in this group has remained largely unstudied. We use comparative methods to evaluate the evolution of habitat specialization and its potential influence on larval morphology, and evaluate whether container dwelling and invasiveness are monophyletic in Aedes. RESULTS:We show that habitat specialization has evolved repeatedly from ancestral ground pool usage to specializat

SUBMITTER: Soghigian J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5735545 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature