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Two male-killing Wolbachia strains coexist within a population of the butterfly Acraea encedon.
- Source :
-
Heredity . 2/3/2001, Vol. 86 Issue 2, p161-166. 6p. - Publication Year :
- 2001
-
Abstract
- Inherited bacteria that kill male hosts early in their development are known from five insect orders. We ask to what extent the incidence of male-killers might be restricted by the rate at which new host–parasite interactions arise, by testing whether multiple male-killers have invaded a single host species. In Uganda, the butterflies Acraea encedon and A. encedana are both infected by the same strain of male-killing Wolbachia and there was no evidence of variation within the population. In Tanzanian A. encedon however, two phylogenetically distinct strains of male-killing Wolbachia were found within the same population. If this pattern of male-killer polymorphism is found to be general across infected species, it suggests that new male-killing infections arise frequently on an evolutionary time scale. Whether this polymorphism is stable, and what forces may be maintaining it, are unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *ACRAEA
*LEPIDOPTERA
*PARASITIC insects
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0018067X
- Volume :
- 86
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Heredity
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 4538996
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2540.2001.00804.x