From sympatry to parapatry: a rapid change in the spatial context of incipient allochronic speciation

Archive ouverte

Burban, Christian | Rocha, Susana | Leblois, Raphaël | Rossi, Jean-Pierre | Saune, Laure | Branco, Manuela | Kerdelhue, Carole

Edité par CCSD ; Springer Verlag -

International audience. Speciation is nowadays recognized as a dynamic process in which the respective roles of forces driving ecological differentiation and reproductive isolation can change through time and space. Incipient speciation events are particularly useful to follow such processes that are not tractable when considering well-differentiated taxa. A promising case study was discovered in the pine processionary moth, Thaumetopoea pityocampa, a Mediterranean defoliator of Pinus species, for which allochrony acting as an automatic magic trait was recognized as the major driver of an incipient speciation process. In Portugal, a unique population with a shifted phenology, known as the summer population (SP), co-occurs with a population following the typical life cycle, known as the winter population (WP). We monitored male activity of both populations in the Leiria region, i.e. over the whole SP distribution range using a systematic sampling along two transects, and studied Portuguese WPs at a larger geographical scale to explore their genetic diversity and spatial pattern of differentiation. Results showed that the WPs were genetically more diverse than the SP, with a strong pattern of isolation by distance both at large and small spatial scales, while the SP was very homogeneous over its whole range, without signature of its recent spatial expansion. Contrary to our expectations, no F1 hybrids were identified, even though we found an extended flight period of the SP, overlapping with the beginning of the WP reproductive period. Interestingly, the SP was found to be mostly limited to the sea shore where the WP is now scarce or absent, which could suggest competitive exclusion. Once clearly occurring in a sympatric context, the allochronic differentiation tends to develop nowadays in parapatry.

Suggestions

Du même auteur

Allochronic differentiation in the pine processionary moth: possible impacts of past and future climate changes

Archive ouverte | Kerdelhue, Carole | CCSD

International audience

Draft genome and reference transcriptomic resources for the urticating pine defoliator Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae)

Archive ouverte | Gschloessl, Bernhard | CCSD

International audience. The pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) is the main pine defoliator in the Mediterranean region. Its urticating larvae cause severe human and animal he...

Climate constrains range expansion of an allochronic population of the pine processionary moth

Archive ouverte | Godefroid, Martin | CCSD

International audience. Aim Allochronic speciation occurs when sympatric populations sharing similar feeding regimes diverge because they mate at different times. Such speciation mode is fascinating because it permi...

Chargement des enrichissements...