Loss and gain of sexual reproduction in the same stick insect.

ABSTRACT: The outcome of competition between different reproductive strategies within a single species can be used to infer selective advantage of the winning strategy. Where multiple populations have independently lost or gained sexual reproduction it is possible to investigate whether the advantage is contingent on local conditions. In the New Zealand stick insect Clitarchus hookeri, three populations are distinguished by recent change in reproductive strategy and we determine their likely origins. One parthenogenetic population has established in the United Kingdom and we provide evidence that sexual reproduction has been lost in this population. We identify the sexual population from which the parthenogenetic population was derived, but show that the UK females have a post-mating barrier to fert

SUBMITTER: Morgan-Richards M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6852293 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature