Reproductive Patterns Drive the Gene Flow and Spatial Dispersal of Euschistus heros (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Euschistus heros (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has two allopatric strains with a hybrid zone in central Brazil. Asymmetric dispersal and gene flow between these strains of E. heros have been observed, where the South strain (SS) moves more quickly to the northern regions of the country than the North st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic entomology 2021-12, Vol.114 (6), p.2346-2354
Main Authors: Hickmann, Frederico, Cordeiro, Erick Goes, Soares, Patrícia Lima, L. Aurélio, Mateus Souza, Schwertner, Cristiano Feldens, Corrêa, Alberto Soares
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal reproduction
Animals
Assortative mating
Body size
Brazil
Coloration
Dispersal
ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR
Euschistus heros
Female
Gene Flow
Genes
Hemiptera
Heteroptera - genetics
Hybridization
Insects
Male
Mating
Neotropical brown stink bug
Pentatomidae
Phenotypes
Population genetics
Reproduction
Reproductive behavior
Reproductive isolation
Stink bugs
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Summary:Euschistus heros (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has two allopatric strains with a hybrid zone in central Brazil. Asymmetric dispersal and gene flow between these strains of E. heros have been observed, where the South strain (SS) moves more quickly to the northern regions of the country than the North strain (NS) to the southern areas. In addition, SS generally has a bigger body size and presents dark brown coloration, and NS is usually smaller in size and presents light brown coloration. Here, we studied the reproductive behavior and tested for the presence of assortative mating and reproductive barriers between the two allopatric strains of E. heros. Nonrandom mating was observed in the SS strain based on mating choice trials and the reproductive isolation indexes. SS females and males prefer to mate with their co-specific (same strain) partner, while NS insects showed no mating preference. The insect's pronotum width was positively associated with the mating choice suggesting size-assortative mating in E. heros. Reciprocal crosses between strains yielded similar reproductive outputs when compared with pure strain crosses, suggesting similar fitness of hybrid pure strains. The asymmetric gene flow in the hybridization zone that favors SS seems to be associated with the reproductive behavior of the species, which favors the typical phenotype found in the SS populations.
ISSN:0022-0493
1938-291X
DOI:10.1093/jee/toab190