Evaluating insect-host interactions as a driver of species divergence in palm flower weevils.

ABSTRACT: Plants and their specialized flower visitors provide valuable insights into the evolutionary consequences of species interactions. In particular, antagonistic interactions between insects and plants have often been invoked as a major driver of diversification. Here we use a tropical community of palms and their specialized insect flower visitors to test whether antagonisms lead to higher population divergence. Interactions between palms and the insects visiting their flowers range from brood pollination to florivory and commensalism, with the latter being species that feed on decaying-and presumably undefended-plant tissues. We test the role of insect-host interactions in the early stages of diversification of nine species of beetles sharing host plants and geographical ranges by first del

SUBMITTER: de Medeiros BAS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7726107 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature