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Sexual Selection, Epistasis and Species Boundaries in Sympatric Hawaiian Picture-winged Drosophila

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Abstract

The Hawaiian picture-winged flies in the genus Drosophila are a spectacular example of rapid evolutionary diversification in which sexual selection is considered an important mechanism for reproductive isolation and speciation. We investigated the behavioral reproductive isolation of two closely related and sympatric Hawaiian picture-winged Drosophila species, D. silvestris and D. heteroneura, which are known to hybridize in nature and produce viable and fertile hybrids. We compared the mating success of parental, F1 and backcross males in pairings with D. heteroneura females. The F1 males were produced by mating D. heteroneura males with D. silvestris females, and the backcross males were produced by mating F1 females with D. heteroneura males. The mating success of backcross males paired with D. heteroneura females were significantly reduced relative to that of parental and F1 males. This reduced mating success occurred primarily at a late stage of courtship where female choice of mate may be important. Two- and three-gene models demonstrate that epistasis involving a few genes could account for the observed variation in male mating success. These results are consistent with negative epistasis in the backcross generation and support the importance of sexual selection and negative epistasis in the evolution and maintenance of these species.

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Acknowledgments

We thank K.Y. Kaneshiro for providing the initial populations of Drosophila silvestris and D. heteroneura from the Hawaiian Drosophila species stock center. We thank C.R.B. Boake and for discussions regarding Hawaiian Drosophila speciation and behavior that led to the development of this project. We thank E. Stacy for extensive discussions and comments on a previous version of this manuscript. This research was supported by the University of Hawaii at Hilo and the US National Science Foundation grants HRD 0833211, EPS 0554657.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science, University of Hawaii at Hilo, 200 W. Kawili Street, Hilo, HI, 96720, USA

    Donald K. Price & Steven K. Souder

  2. Biology Department, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI, 96720, USA

    Donald K. Price & Tatiane Russo-Tait

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  1. Donald K. Price
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  2. Steven K. Souder
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Correspondence to Donald K. Price.

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Price, D.K., Souder, S.K. & Russo-Tait, T. Sexual Selection, Epistasis and Species Boundaries in Sympatric Hawaiian Picture-winged Drosophila . J Insect Behav 27, 27–40 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-013-9404-6

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