Mating success depends on rearing substrate in cactophilic Drosophila

HURTADO, JP, EM SOTO, L ORELLANA, E HASSON

EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2012 vol. 26 p. 733 - 743

0269-7653

Drosophila buzzatii and D. koepferae coexist in the arid lands of southern SouthAmerica and exploit different types of cactus as breeding hosts. The former prefers tolay eggs on the rotting pads of prickly pears (genus Opuntia) whereas D. koepferaeexhibits greater acceptance for columnar cacti (e.g., Echinopsis terschekii). Here, wedemonstrate that the rearing cacti affect male mating success, flies reared in eachspecies´ preferred host exhibited enhanced mating success than those raised insecondary hosts. Opuntia sulphurea medium endows D. buzzatii males with greatermating ability while D. koepferae males perform better when flies develop in Echinopsisterschekii. These effects are not mediated through body size, even in D. buzzatiiwhose body size happens to be affected by the rearing cacti. This scenario, which isconsistent with the evolution of host specialization and speciation through sensorydrive, emphasizes the importance of habitat isolation in the coexistence of thesecactophilic Drosophila.