Population genomics and geographical parthenogenesis in Japanese harvestmen (Opiliones, Sclerosomatidae, Leiobunum).

ABSTRACT: Naturally occurring population variation in reproductive mode presents an opportunity for researchers to test hypotheses regarding the evolution of sex. Asexual reproduction frequently assumes a geographical pattern, in which parthenogenesis-dominated populations are more broadly dispersed than their sexual conspecifics. We evaluate the geographical distribution of genomic signatures associated with parthenogenesis using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data from two Japanese harvestman sister taxa, Leiobunum manubriatum and Leiobunum globosum. Asexual reproduction is putatively facultative in these species, and female-biased localities are common in habitat margins. Past karyotypic and current cytometric work indicates L. globosum is entirely tetraploid, while <

SUBMITTER: Burns M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5756897 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature