Title
Mimetic divergence and the speciation continuum in the mimic poison frog ranitomeya imitator
Date Issued
01 February 2016
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
University of Chicago Press
Abstract
While divergent ecological adaptation can drive speciation, understanding the factors that facilitate or constrain this process remains a major goal in speciation research. Here, we study two mimetic transition zones in the poison frog Ranitomeya imitator, a species that has undergone a Müllerian mimetic radiation to establish four morphs in Peru. We find that mimetic morphs are strongly phenotypically differentiated, producing geographic clines with varying widths. However, distinct morphs show little neutral genetic divergence, and landscape genetic analyses implicate isolation by distance as the primary determinant of among-population genetic differentiation. Mate choice experiments suggest random mating at the transition zones, although certain allopatric populations show a preference for their own morph. We present evidence that this preference may be mediated by color pattern specifically. These results contrast with an earlier study of a third transition zone, in which a mimetic shift was associated with reproductive isolation. Overall, our results suggest that the three known mimetic transition zones in R. imitator reflect a speciation continuum, which we have characterized at the geographic, phenotypic, behavioral, and genetic levels. We discuss possible explanations for variable progress toward speciation, suggesting that multifarious selection on both mimetic color pattern and body size may be responsible for generating reproductive isolation.
Start page
205
End page
224
Volume
187
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Subjects
DOI
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84957818605
PubMed ID
Source
American Naturalist
ISSN of the container
00030147
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus