Cospeciation Analysis of an Obligate Pollination Mutualism: Have Glochidion Trees (Euphorbiaceae) and Pollinating Epicephala Moths (Gracillariidae) Diversified in Parallel?

Abstract

Species-specific obligate pollination mutualism between Glochidion trees (Euphorbiaceae) and Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) involves a large number of interacting species and resembles the classically known fig-fig wasp and yucca-yucca moth associations.To assess the extent of parallel cladogenesis in Glochidion-Epicephala association, we reconstruct phylogenetic relationships of 18 species of Glochidion using nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences (internal and external transcribed spacers) and those of the corresponding 18 Epicephala species using mitochondrial (the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene) and nuclear DNA sequences (the arginine kinase and elongation factor-1␣ genes). Based on the obtained phylogenies, we determine whether Glochidion and Epicephala have undergone parallel diversification using several different methods for investigating the level of cospeciation between phylogenies. These tests indicate that there is generally a greater degree of correlation between Glochidion and Epicephala phylogenies than expected in a random association, but the results are sensitive to selection of different phylogenetic hypotheses and analytical methods for evaluating cospeciation. Perfect congruence between phylogenies is not found in this association, which likely resulted from host shift by the moths. The observed significant discrepancy between Glochidion and Epicephala phylogenies implies that the one-to-one specificity between the plants and moths has been maintained through a complex speciation process or that there is an underestimated diversity of association between Glochidion trees and Epicephala moths.

Allopatric distribution and diversification without niche shift in a bryophyte-feeding basal moth lineage (Lepidoptera: Micropterigidae)

“…We sequenced fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and nuclear 18S rRNA and elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1a) genes. Laboratory protocols, as well as the PCR primers used, are detailed in Kawakita et al [32] and Kawakita & Kato [33].…”

Non-congruent colonizations and diversification in a coevolving pollination mutualism on oceanic islands

“…The genus Glochidion sensu lato (hereafter, Glochidion) is the beststudied clade of leafflowers [26,[29][30][31], with approximately 300 species described from tropical Asia, Australasia and the Pacific islands [32]. Epicephala includes the sole known pollinators of Glochidion; female Epicephala actively pollinate Glochidion flowers and then oviposit into the floral ovaries, where the larvae consume a subset of the developing seeds [29].…”

Analysis of tissue dependent DNA yield for optimal sampling of micro-moths in large-scale biodiversity surveys

“…Over recent decades, molecular methods have complemented traditional comparative morphology and taxonomic classification of micro-moths (Nieukerken et al, in press). Indeed, an increasing number of DNA-based studies on smaller moths have recently been published in the fields of evolutionary biology (Lopez-Vaamonde et al, 2003Kawakita et al, 2004;Bucheli & Wenzel, 2005;Pellmyr et al, 2006;Schmitz et al, 2007;Kawahara et al, 2011), molecular ecology (Mari Mena et al, 2008;Valade et al, 2009), and in clarifications of complicated cases in alphataxonomy such as cryptic differentiation and/or species race formation (Kaila & Ståhls, 2006;Ohshima, 2008;Schmitz et al, 2008).…”