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Host plant specialization driven by sexual selection.

Tiago B Quental1, Manus M Patten, Naomi E Pierce

  • 1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. tquental@oeb.harvard.edu

The American Naturalist
|May 5, 2007
PubMed
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Sexual selection drives insect diet specialization. Females choosing mates by diet-influenced scents lead to offspring specializing on specific host plants, a novel evolutionary pathway.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Insect ecology
  • Sexual selection

Background:

  • Diet breadth in insects is a key factor in their ecological success and diversification.
  • Existing theories often focus on resource availability or larval-stage adaptations.
  • The role of sexual selection in shaping diet breadth remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose and model a novel mechanism for the evolution of diet breadth in insects based on sexual selection.
  • To investigate how female mate choice for diet-derived male pheromones influences offspring host plant specialization.
  • To explore the conditions under which this mechanism is most likely to operate.

Main Methods:

  • Development of an analytical model incorporating sexual selection and maternal effects.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analysis of potential evolutionary pathways for host plant specialization.
  • Examination of conditions favoring specialization in species with male-congregating mating strategies.

    • Main Results:

    • Female preference for diet-derived male pheromones can drive host plant specialization through maternal effect genes.
    • This mechanism is more probable in species with lekking or hilltopping mating strategies.
    • The model explains the link between male pheromone composition and host plant chemistry in Lepidoptera.

    Conclusions:

    • Sexual selection provides a novel driving force for host plant specialization in insects.
    • Adult-stage selection, mediated by sexual selection, can determine larval feeding habits.
    • This research offers new insights into insect evolution, host plant shifts, and the interplay between sexual selection and diet.