Host-plant adaptation as a driver of incipient speciation in the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Divergent selection on host-plants is one of the main evolutionary forces driving ecological speciation in phytophagous insects. The ecological speciation might be challenging in the presence of gene flow and assortative mating because the direction of divergence is not necessarily the same between ecological selection (through host-plant adaptation) and assortative mating. The fall armyworm (FAW), a major lepidopteran pest species, is composed of two sympatric strains, corn and rice strains, named after two of their preferred host-plants. These two strains have been hypothesized to undergo incipient speciation, based on (i) several lines of evidence encompassing both pre- and post-zygotic reproductive isolation, and (ii) the presence of a substantial level of genetic di

SUBMITTER: Fiteni E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9652827 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature