Testing the role of trait reversal in evolutionary diversification using song loss in wild crickets.

ABSTRACT: The mechanisms underlying rapid macroevolution are controversial. One largely untested hypothesis that could inform this debate is that evolutionary reversals might release variation in vestigial traits, which then facilitates subsequent diversification. We evaluated this idea by testing key predictions about vestigial traits arising from sexual trait reversal in wild field crickets. In Hawaiian Teleogryllus oceanicus, the recent genetic loss of sound-producing and -amplifying structures on male wings eliminates their acoustic signals. Silence protects these "flatwing" males from an acoustically orienting parasitoid and appears to have evolved independently more than once. Here, we report that flatwing males show enhanced variation in vestigial resonator morphology under varied gene

SUBMITTER: Bailey NW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6500131 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature