INVESTIGADORES
SOTO Ignacio Maria
artículos
Título:
Viability and developmental time in the cactophilic Drosophila gouveai and D. antonietae (Diptera: Drosophilidae) are dependent of the cactus host
Autor/es:
SOTO, IGNACIO; MAURA MANFRIN,; FABIO SENE,; ESTEBAN HASSON,
Revista:
ANNALS OF THE ENTOMOLOGYCAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Editorial:
Entomological Society of America
Referencias:
Año: 2007 vol. 100 p. 490 - 496
ISSN:
0013-8746
Resumen:
Drosophila gouveai Tidon-Sklorz and Sene and D. antonietae Tidon-Sklorz and Sene are cactophilic sibling species that belong to the D. buzzatii cluster, which comprises 7 species living in South America. Drosophila gouveai utilizes the decaying stems of Cactaceae of the genus Pilosocereus as breeding sites, while D. antonietae is mainly associated with Cereus hildmannianus. In this paper we investigate the effect that growing in alternative host cacti may have on fitness related traits relevant for species that live in ephemeral resources: developmental time and viability. Both species were reared in semi-natural media prepared with fermenting tissues of either Pilosocereus machrisis or C. hildmannianus. Our results show that the specific differences in the traits analyzed are host-dependent. Overall, both species performed very well in P. machrisis, while survival in C. hildmannianus differed dramatically between species. The viability of D. antonietae was lower than in P. machrisis, while D. gouveai barely survived in C. hildmannianus. The results are discussed in the light of biogeographic, morphological and molecular evidence and stress the necessity of a more complete characterization of the niche of emergence and extension of the present experimental approach to assess the relative significance of host plant utilization in the diversification of the D. buzzatii cluster.