Assortative Mating in Sympatric Host Races of the European Corn Borer

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 308; no. 5719; pp. 258 - 260
• Main Authors: Malausa, Thibaut, Bethenod, Marie-Thérèse, Bontemps, Arnaud, Bourguet, Denis, Cornuet, Jean-Marie, Ponsard, Sergine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 08.04.2005; The American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Subjects: Animal reproduction; Animals; assortative mating; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Biology; Environmental Influences; European corn borer; Feeding Behavior; Female; Females; Fidelity; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic aspects; Geographic Isolation; host plants; host races; Individualized Instruction; insect pests; Insects; Male; Males; Moths - classification; Moths - genetics; Moths - physiology; Ostrinia nubilalis; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Protozoa. Invertebrates; Pyralidae; races; Records, symptoms, damages, economic importance, population surveys; reproductive isolation; Sexual Behavior, Animal; Zea mays; France; Europe; Western Europe; Assortative mating; Reproductive isolation; Genetic marker; Biochemical marker; Insecta; Sympatry; Ostrinia nubilalis; Population genetics; Pest; Pyralidae; Phytophagous; Arthropoda; Host plant; Lepidoptera; Race; Invertebrata; Animal population; Speciation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1107577

Although a growing body of work supports the plausibility of sympatric speciation in animals, the practical difficulties of directly quantifying reproductive isolation between diverging taxa remain an obstacle to analyzing this process. We used a combination of genetic and biogeochemical markers to produce a direct field estimate of assortative mating in phytophagous insect populations. We show that individuals of the same insect species, the European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis, that develop on different host plants can display almost absolute reproductive isolation--the proportion of assortative mating was >95%--even in the absence of temporal or spatial isolation.