10.5061/DRYAD.N6SK3
Ruther, Joachim
University of Regensburg
McCaw, Jennifer
University of Regensburg
Böcher, Lisa
University of Regensburg
Pothmann, Daniela
University of Regensburg
Putz, Irina
University of Regensburg
Data from: Pheromone diversification and age-dependent behavioural
plasticity decrease interspecific mating costs in Nasonia
Dryad
dataset
2015
Nasonia giraulti
prezygotic isolation
Pteromalidae
sex pheromone
olfactometer
Nasonia vitripennis
insect behaviour
Chemical analysis
2015-01-23T00:00:00Z
2015-01-23T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089214
55645 bytes
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Interspecific mating can cause severe fitness costs due to the fact that
hybrids are often non-viable or less fit. Thus, theory predicts the
selection of traits that lessen reproductive interactions between closely
related sympatric species. Males of the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis
differ from all other Nasonia species by an additional sex pheromone
component, but the ecological selective forces underlying this pheromone
diversification are unknown. Here we present data from lab experiments
suggesting that costly interspecific sexual interactions with the
sympatric species N. giraulti might have been responsible for the
pheromone evolution and some courtship-related behavioural adaptations in
N. vitripennis. Most N. giraulti females are inseminated already within
the host, but N. giraulti males still invest in costly sex pheromones
after emergence. Furthermore, they do not discriminate between N.
vitripennis females and conspecifics during courtship. Therefore, N.
vitripennis females, most of which emerge as virgins, face the risk of
mating with N. giraulti resulting in costly all-male broods due to
Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility. As a counter adaptation,
young N. vitripennis females discriminate against N. giraulti males using
the more complex conspecific sex pheromone and reject most of them during
courtship. With increasing age, however, N. vitripennis females become
less choosy, but often compensate mating errors by re-mating with a
conspecific. By doing so, they can principally avoid suboptimal offspring
sex ratios, but a microcosm experiment suggests that under more natural
conditions N. vitripennis females cannot completely avoid fitness costs
due to heterospecific mating. Our study provides support for the
hypothesis that communication interference of closely related sympatric
species using similar sexual signals can generate selective pressures that
lead to their divergence.
Experimental dataThe file contains all data used for statistical analysis
and to produce Figures 1-6 and Figures S2-S3 of the paper.Raw data Plos
One.xlsx