Evolution and Ecology Group, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Dec 12;280(1752):20122302. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2302. Print 2013 Feb 7.
The diverse Müllerian mimetic wing patterns of neotropical Heliconius (Nymphalidae) have been proposed to be not only aposematic signals to potential predators, but also intra- and interspecific recognition signals that allow the butterflies to maintain their specific identities, and which perhaps drive the process of speciation, as well. Adaptive features under differential selection that also serve as cues for assortative mating have been referred to as 'magic traits', which can drive ecological speciation. Such traits are expected to exhibit allelic differentiation between closely related species with ongoing gene flow, whereas unlinked neutral traits are expected to be homogenized to a greater degree by introgression. However, recent evidence suggests that interspecific hybridization among Heliconius butterflies may have resulted in adaptive introgression of these very same traits across species boundaries, and in the evolution of new species by homoploid hybrid speciation. The theory and data supporting various aspects of the apparent paradox of 'magic trait' introgression are reviewed, with emphasis on population genomic comparisons of Heliconius melpomene and its close relatives.
新热带地区的凤蝶（Nymphalidae 科）具有多种多样的 Müllerian 拟态翅膀图案，这些图案不仅被认为是对潜在捕食者的警戒信号，也是蝴蝶种内和种间识别信号，有助于它们维持各自的特有身份，甚至可能推动物种形成的过程。那些在差异选择下起到作用并作为交配选择信号的适应性特征被称为“神奇特征”，可以驱动生态物种形成。这些特征预计会在具有持续基因流的近亲物种之间表现出等位基因分化，而不相关的中性特征则预计会通过渐渗作用更大程度地同质化。然而，最近的证据表明，凤蝶属蝴蝶之间的种间杂交可能导致这些特征在种间边界的适应性渐渗，以及通过同源多倍体杂交形成新物种的进化。本文综述了支持“神奇特征”渐渗的各个方面的理论和数据，重点是对凤蝶 melpomene 及其近缘种进行种群基因组比较。
