| Title: | Two sisters in the same dress: Heliconius cryptic species |
| Author(s): | Giraldo N; Salazar C; Jiggins CD; Bermingham E; Linares M; |
| Address: | "Instituto de Genetica, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota DC Colombia. na-giral@uniandes.edu.co" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1471-2148 (Electronic) 1471-2148 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "BACKGROUND: Sister species divergence and reproductive isolation commonly results from ecological adaptation. In mimetic Heliconius butterflies, shifts in colour pattern contribute to pre- and post-mating reproductive isolation and are commonly correlated with speciation. Closely related mimetic species are therefore not expected, as they should lack several important sources of reproductive isolation. RESULTS: Here we present phenotypic, behavioral and genetic evidence for the coexistence of two sympatric 'cryptic' species near Florencia in the eastern Andes of Colombia that share the same orange rayed colour pattern. These represent H. melpomene malleti and a novel taxon in the H. cydno group, here designated as novel race of Heliconius timareta, Heliconius timareta florencia. No-choice mating experiments show that these sympatric forms have strong assortative mating ( approximately 96%) despite great similarity in colour pattern, implying enhanced divergence in pheromonal signals. CONCLUSION: We hypothesize that these species might have resulted from recent convergence in colour pattern, perhaps facilitated by hybrid introgression of wing pattern genes" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Butterflies/classification/*genetics/physiology Colombia Color DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics Female *Genetic Speciation Male Microsatellite Repeats Phenotype Phylogeny Reproduction Sexual Behavior, Animal;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineGiraldo, Nathalia Salazar, Camilo Jiggins, Chris D Bermingham, Eldredge Linares, Mauricio eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2008/12/02 BMC Evol Biol. 2008 Nov 28; 8:324. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-8-324" |
