| Title: | Host plant specialization driven by sexual selection |
| Author(s): | Quental TB; Patten MM; Pierce NE; |
| Address: | "Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. tquental@oeb.harvard.edu" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1537-5323 (Electronic) 0003-0147 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "We propose a new mechanism based on sexual selection to explain the evolution of diet breadth in insects. More specifically, we show that mate choice in females for certain diet-derived male pheromones can be exploited by maternal effect genes that preferentially place offspring on a specific host plant, resulting in specialization. Our analytical model also suggests that the process is more likely to occur with species that show male-congregating mating strategies, such as lekking and hilltopping. The model offers a new explanation for the similarity between the composition of male lepidopteran pheromones and the chemistry of their host plants and also suggests a novel mechanism of host plant shift. This is the first time that sexual selection has been proposed to drive host plant specialization and the first time that a mechanism with selection acting solely on the adult stage has been shown to be capable of determining larval feeding habits" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Diet Feeding Behavior Female Larva/growth & development/physiology *Lepidoptera Male *Mating Preference, Animal *Models, Biological *Plants Sex Attractants;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineQuental, Tiago B Patten, Manus M Pierce, Naomi E eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2007/05/05 Am Nat. 2007 Jun; 169(6):830-6. doi: 10.1086/516654. Epub 2007 Apr 3" |
