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Patterns of Phenotypic Divergence in Wing Covariance Structure of Calopterygid Damselflies

Evolutionary Biology volume 36, pages 214–224 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Comparing species differences in covariance patterns of traits subject to divergent selection pressures can increase our understanding to the mechanisms of phenotypic divergence. Different species of calopterygid damselflies have diverged in the melanized wing patch of males. This trait serves multiple ecological functions and has behavioral consequences in terms of sexual selection, interspecific interactions, reproductive isolation. We compared the phenotypic variance-covariance matrices (P) of wing traits among nine populations of four European species of calopterygid damselflies. We found modest divergence in covariance structure among populations of the same species, but strong divergence between species. Interestingly, the orientation of the first eigenvector of P (P max ) differed more between closely related species than between distantly related species, although this pattern was absent when overall covariance structures were compared. We also found that distantly related species but geographically closer had converged towards a similar covariance structure. Finally, divergence in covariance structure was correlated with divergence in wing patch length, but not with other wing traits. This last finding suggests that divergent selection on wing patch length might have affected the stability of P. These results indicate that P might not only reflect ancestral developmental pathways but might also be influenced by current ecology.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to S. Kuchta, T. Gosden and two anonymous referees for constructive criticisms on the early drafts of this manuscript. This study was financially supported by The Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) and The Royal Physiographic Society in Lund (KFS) to FE, by the Fundación para el Fomento en Asturias de la Invetigación Cientifica Aplicada y la Tecnología (FICYT) to DO and the Swedish Research Council (VR) and The Swedish Council for Environment, Agriculture, and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) to EIS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section for Animal Ecology, Ecology Building, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Fabrice Eroukhmanoff & Erik I. Svensson

  2. Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Oviedo University, 33071, Oviedo, Spain

    David Outomuro & Francisco J. Ocharan

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  1. Fabrice Eroukhmanoff
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  2. David Outomuro
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  3. Francisco J. Ocharan
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  4. Erik I. Svensson
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Correspondence to Fabrice Eroukhmanoff.

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Eroukhmanoff, F., Outomuro, D., Ocharan, F.J. et al. Patterns of Phenotypic Divergence in Wing Covariance Structure of Calopterygid Damselflies. Evol Biol 36, 214–224 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-009-9057-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-009-9057-8

Keywords

  • Phenotypic integration
  • Phenotypic plasticity
  • P-matrix
  • Speciation
  • Wing morphology