Insect Science (2017) 24, 325-335

Manuela Branco, Maria-Rosa Paiva, Helena Maria Santos, Christian Burban and Carole Kerdelhué (2017)
Experimental evidence for heritable reproductive time in 2 allochronic populations of pine processionary moth
Insect Science 24 (2), 325-335
Abstract: Phenology allows organisms to overcome seasonally variable conditions through life-cycle adjustment. Changes in phenology can drastically modify the evolutionary trajectory of a population, while a shift in the reproductive time may cause allochronic differentiation. The hypothesis of heritable reproductive time was experimentally tested, by studying a unique population of the pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Den. and Schiff.) which has a shifted phenology, and however co-occurs with the typical population following the classical life cycle. When populations of both types were reared under controlled conditions, the reproductive time was maintained asynchronous, as observed in the field. The shifted population was manipulated in the laboratory to reproduce later than usual, yet the offspring emerged in the next year at the expected dates thus "coming back" to the usual cycle. Hybrids from crosses performed between the 2 populations showed an intermediate phenology. From the emergence times of parents and offspring, a high heritability of the reproductive time (h = 0.76) was observed. The offspring obtained from each type of cross was genetically characterized using microsatellite markers. Bayesian clustering analysis confirmed that hybrids can be successfully identified and separated from the parental genetic classes by genotyping. Findings support the hypothesis that, for this particular population, incipient allochronic speciation is due to a heritable shift in the reproductive time that further causes assortative mating and might eventually cause ecological adaptation/maladaptation in response to environmental changes.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Full text of article
Database assignments for author(s): Manuela R. Branco

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution
population dynamics/ epidemiology

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Thaumetopoea pityocampa	Pine (Pinus)	Portugal (continental)