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Data from: Evolution of pre-mating reproductive isolation among conspecific populations of the sea rock-pool beetle Ochthebius urbanelliae driven by reinforcing natural selection

Cite this dataset

Porretta, Daniele; Urbanelli, Sandra (2011). Data from: Evolution of pre-mating reproductive isolation among conspecific populations of the sea rock-pool beetle Ochthebius urbanelliae driven by reinforcing natural selection [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9fs476vt

Abstract

How natural selection might be involved in speciation remains a fundamental question in evolutionary biology. When two or more species co-occur in the same areas, natural selection may favour divergence in mating traits. By acting in sympatric but not allopatric populations, natural selection can also affect mate choice within species and ultimately initiate speciation among conspecific populations. Here we address this potential effect in the sea rock-pool beetles Ochthebius quadricollis and O.urbanelliae. The two species, which inhabit the Mediterranean coasts, co-occurr syntopically in an area along the Italian Tyrrhenian coast and completed reproductive isolation by reinforcement. In this paper, through mating trials under laboratory conditions between conspecific populations, we found in O.quadricollis no deviations from random mating. Conversely, in O.urbanelliae, we found a clear pattern of pre-mating isolation between the reinforced populations sympatric with O.quadricollis and those non-reinforced allopatric. This pattern is consistent with the view that natural selection, which completed the reproductive isolation between the two species in sympatry, led incidentally also to partial pre-mating reproductive isolation (IPSI estimator from 0.683 to 0.792) between conspecific populations of O.urbanelliae. This case study supports an until recently underappreciated role of natural selection resulting from species interactions in initiating speciation.

Usage notes

Location

Italian Peninsula