SpecMod · Global Insights in Speciation: a New Butterfly Model System

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Project objective

Research in evolutionary biology has historically made use of rapidly evolving, species-rich groups as models to investigate the mechanisms of speciation: evolutionary radiations. However, most model radiations resulted from isolated events, and thus lack comparative power. Here, I propose a novel system in evolution: the Acraeini. This group of butterflies has several qualities that make it an ideal model: 1) it comprises 8 genera, differing in ecology and in geographic distribution; 2) 2 of these, Telchinia and Actinote, can be considered sister radiations, descended from a common ancestor, but distributed over Africa and Latin America respectively; 3) it is globally distributed, spanning Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America; 4) it is closely related to Heliconius butterflies, also an evolutionary radiation and a well-established speciation model system. All these qualities give the Acraeini substantial comparative power, making it an ideal model to investigate speciation dynamics and how they are affected by differing ecologies, continental distributions, and genetic infrastructure. In SpecMod, I focus on developing the Acraeini framework through 3 research objectives, achievable via a collaborative network of African, South American and European institutions. 1) Produce 13 new reference genomes covering all 8 genera and notable subgroups of species, to investigate patterns of gene evolution between different genera and continents and draw comparisons with gene evolution in Heliconius. 2) Compile a comprehensive collection of species-level ecological information, to test the effect of specific traits on speciation dynamics across species-rich and species-poor Acraeini genera. 3) Carry out mating experiments in Acraeini to investigate the behavioural and chemical ecology of sex role reversal, a seldom observed phenomenon in butterflies, where females perform courtship and produce chemical mating signals rather than males.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW · GlasgowCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
• SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · Washington DcUnited States

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101264404