Journal
EVOLUTION
Volume 62, Issue 7, Pages 1777-1797Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00406.x
Keywords
community ecology; fig wasps; host utilization; mutualism; phylogeny; randomization; specialization; supertree
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study of chalcid wasps that live within syconia of fig trees (Moraceae, Ficus), provides a unique opportunity to investigate the evolution of specialized communities of insects. By conducting cospeciation analyses between figs of section Galoglychia and some of their associated fig wasps, we show that, although host switches and duplication have evidently played a role in the construction of the current associations, the global picture is one of significant cospeciation throughout the evolution of these communities. Contrary to common belief, nonpollinating wasps are at least as constrained as pollinators by their host association in their diversification in this section. By adapting a randomization test in a supertree context, we further confirm that wasp phylogenies are significantly congruent with each other, and build a wasp community supertree that retrieves Galoglychia taxonomic subdivisions. Altogether, these results probably reflect wasp host specialization but also, to some extent, they might indicate that niche saturation within the fig prevents recurrent intrahost speciation and host switching. Finally, a comparison of ITS2 sequence divergence of cospeciating pairs of wasps suggests that the diversification of some pollinating and nonpollinating wasps of Galoglychia figs has been synchronous but that pollinating wasps exhibit a higher rate of molecular evolution.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available