Research article
Reticulate evolution in stick insects: the case of Clonopsis (Insecta Phasmida)
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* Corresponding author: Marco Passamonti marco.passamonti@unibo.it
1 Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
2 Istituto di Zootecnica, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Piacenza, Italy
BMC Evolutionary Biology 2010, 10:258 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-258
Published: 25 August 2010Abstract
Background
Phasmids show noteworthy abilities to overcome species-specific reproductive isolation mechanisms, including hybridization, polyploidy, parthenogenesis, hybridogenesis and androgenesis. From an evolutionary standpoint, such tangled reproductive interactions lead to the complex phyletic relationships known as "reticulate evolution". Moroccan stick insects of the genus Clonopsis include one bisexual (C. felicitatis) and two closely related parthenogenetic forms (C. gallica, C. soumiae), which represent a polyploid series in chromosome number, but with apparent diploid karyotypes. Moreover, two Clonopsis strains of ameiotic males have been described, C. androgenes-35 and C. androgenes-53. As a consequence, Clonopsis stick insects may have experienced complex micro-evolutionary events, which we try to disentangle in this study.
Results
Mitochondrial cox2 analysis supports a recent divergence of Clonopsis, while AFLPs evidence genetic differentiation not linked to karyotypes, so that parthenogenetic C. gallica and C. soumiae appear to be a mix of strains of polyphyletic origin rather than single parthenogenetic species. Moreover, an admixed hybrid origin seems to be confirmed for C. androgenes.
Conclusion
On the whole, Clonopsis is an intriguing case of reticulate evolution. Actually, complex cladogenetic events should be taken into account to explain the observed genetic structure, including diploidization of polyploid karyotypes, possibly coupled with hybridization and androgenesis. We also proposed a "working hypothesis" to account for the observed data, which deserves further studies, but fits the observed data very well.