Cirino Lauren A, McEvoy Isaac, Smith Logan C, Emberts Zachary
Department of Integrative Biology Oklahoma State University Stillwater Oklahoma USA.
Department of Biological Sciences University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg Virginia USA.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Oct 8;14(10):e70257. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70257. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Novel host plants are incorporated into the diets of phytophagous insects when females oviposit and juveniles feed and survive on them. A change in diet, however, can have morphological consequences. We recently found a population of the leaf-footed cactus bug, (Hemiptera: Coreidae), a historical cactus specialist, living and feeding on thistle. We also found adults breeding and males using their enlarged hind legs (i.e., weapons) in male-male combat on thistle. When we compared this thistle population with a population feeding on cactus, we found that both populations had similar body and weapon sizes as well as weapon composition. However, the population living on thistle had longer mouthparts than the population found on cactus, although this difference only occurred at larger body sizes. This difference in adult mouthpart size is likely a result of the juvenile rearing environment (i.e., thistle or cactus). However, genetic differences may also affect this trait. Our results provide some interesting avenues for future research (e.g., a reciprocal transplant experiment) in a species with a recent host range expansion.
当雌性植食性昆虫产卵，幼虫取食并在新的寄主植物上存活时，这些新寄主植物就会被纳入它们的食谱。然而，饮食的改变可能会产生形态学上的后果。我们最近发现了一群叶足仙人掌蝽（半翅目：缘蝽科），这种昆虫原本是仙人掌的专食性昆虫，现在却以蓟为食并在上面生存。我们还发现成虫在蓟上繁殖，雄性在雄雄争斗中使用其增大的后腿（即武器）。当我们将这个以蓟为食的种群与以仙人掌为食的种群进行比较时，我们发现两个种群的身体和武器大小以及武器组成相似。然而，以蓟为食的种群的口器比以仙人掌为食的种群的口器更长，尽管这种差异只在体型较大时出现。成虫口器大小的这种差异可能是幼虫饲养环境（即蓟或仙人掌）造成的结果。然而，基因差异也可能影响这一特征。我们的研究结果为未来对一个近期寄主范围扩大的物种的研究（例如相互移植实验）提供了一些有趣的途径。
