dc.contributor.author	McLeish, Michael J.
dc.contributor.author	Van Noort, Simon
dc.date.accessioned	2012-04-12T10:45:26Z
dc.date.available	2012-04-12T10:45:26Z
dc.date.issued	2012-01
dc.date.updated	2012-03-12T20:11:56Z
dc.description	The original publication is available at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/12/1	en_ZA
dc.description	Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
dc.description.abstract	Abstract Background The interaction between insects and plants takes myriad forms in the generation of spectacular diversity. In this association a species host range is fundamental and often measured using an estimate of phylogenetic concordance between species. Pollinating fig wasps display extreme host species specificity, but the intraspecific variation in empirical accounts of host affiliation has previously been underestimated. In this investigation, lineage delimitation and codiversification tests are used to generate and discuss hypotheses elucidating on pollinating fig wasp associations with Ficus. Results Statistical parsimony and AMOVA revealed deep divergences at the COI locus within several pollinating fig wasp species that persist on the same host Ficus species. Changes in branching patterns estimated using the generalized mixed Yule coalescent test indicated lineage duplication on the same Ficus species. Conversely, Elisabethiella and Alfonsiella fig wasp species are able to reproduce on multiple, but closely related host fig species. Tree reconciliation tests indicate significant codiversification as well as significant incongruence between fig wasp and Ficus phylogenies. Conclusions The findings demonstrate more relaxed pollinating fig wasp host specificity than previously appreciated. Evolutionarily conservative host associations have been tempered by horizontal transfer and lineage duplication among closely related Ficus species. Independent and asynchronistic diversification of pollinating fig wasps is best explained by a combination of both sympatric and allopatric models of speciation. Pollinator host preference constraints permit reproduction on closely related Ficus species, but uncertainty of the frequency and duration of these associations requires better resolution.	en_ZA
dc.description.version	Peer Reviewed	en_ZA
dc.format.extent	12 p. : ill.
dc.identifier.citation	McLeish, M. J. & Van Noort, S. 2012. Codivergence and multiple host species use by fig wasp populations of the Ficus pollination mutualism, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12(1):1.	en_ZA
dc.identifier.uri	http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-12-1
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/20744
dc.language.iso	en_ZA	en_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066	en
dc.publisher	BioMed Central	en_ZA
dc.rights.holder	McLeish et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.	en_ZA
dc.subject	Insect-plant relationships	en_ZA
dc.subject	Fig wasp	en_ZA
dc.subject	Ficus (figs) -- Pollination by insects (fig wasp)	en_ZA
dc.title	Codivergence and multiple host species use by fig wasp populations of the Ficus pollination mutualism	en_ZA
dc.type	Article	en_ZA

Codivergence and multiple host species use by fig wasp populations of the Ficus pollination mutualism

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