Nash David R, Als Thomas D, Maile Roland, Jones Graeme R, Boomsma Jacobus J
Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Science. 2008 Jan 4;319(5859):88-90. doi: 10.1126/science.1149180.
Mechanisms of recognition are essential to the evolution of mutualistic and parasitic interactions between species. One such example is the larval mimicry that Maculinea butterfly caterpillars use to parasitize Myrmica ant colonies. We found that the greater the match between the surface chemistry of Maculinea alcon and two of its host Myrmica species, the more easily ant colonies were exploited. The geographic patterns of surface chemistry indicate an ongoing coevolutionary arms race between the butterflies and Myrmica rubra, which has significant genetic differentiation between populations, but not between the butterflies and a second, sympatric host, Myrmica ruginodis, which has panmictic populations. Alternative hosts may therefore provide an evolutionary refuge for a parasite during periods of counteradaptation by their preferred hosts.
识别机制对于物种间互利共生和寄生相互作用的进化至关重要。一个这样的例子是黄斑蛱蝶幼虫利用拟态寄生蚁巢的现象。我们发现，阿尔康黄斑蛱蝶与其两种寄主蚁种之间的表面化学性质匹配度越高，蚁巢就越容易被寄生。表面化学性质的地理分布模式表明，蝴蝶与具有显著种群间遗传分化的红蚁之间正在进行协同进化军备竞赛，但蝴蝶与第二种同域分布的寄主皱结蚁之间则没有这种情况，皱结蚁种群是随机交配的。因此，在其偏好的寄主进行反适应的时期，替代寄主可能为寄生虫提供一个进化避难所。
