Abstract
The population structure of the milkweed beetle Tetraopes tetraophthalmus (Forster) is tied intimately to the biology of its one host plant, Asclepias syriaca. The patchy distribution of the host plant and the limited dispersal of the beetle combine to organise the herbivore into numerous very localised populations. An analysis of hierarchical patterns of spatial variation in allozyme frequencies by means of Wright's F-statistics reveals that in some parts of the beetle's range this population structure can result in moderate genetic differentiation (F = 0·03–0·06) among beetle populations inhabiting milkweed patches separated by only a few kilometres. Substantial differentiation occurs across the range of the species (F = 0·154). A review of similar studies shows the values of F calculated for T. tetraophthalmus to be among the highest found for a flying insect. It is argued that the local differentiation results, in part, from a reduction in effective population sizes associated with the ephemeral nature of milkweed patches and that this population structure is favourable for the operation of Wright's Shifting Balance mode of evolution.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Anderson, W W, Berisford, C W, and Kimmich, R H. 1979. Genetic differences among five populations of the southern pine beetle. Ann Entomol Soc Am, 72, 323–327.
Anderson, W W, Berisford, C W, Turnbow, R H, and Brown, C J. 1983. Genetic differences among populations of the black turpentine beetle, Dendroctonus terebrans, and an engraver beetle, Ips calligraphus (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am, 76, 896–902.
Ayala, F J. 1982. The genetic structure of species. Milkman, R. (ed.) In Perspectives on Evolution. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, 60–82.
Barrowclough, G F. 1983. Biochemical studies of micro-evolutionary processes. Brush, A. H. and Clark, G. A. (eds.). In Perspectives in Ornithology, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 223–261.
Barton, N H, and Charlesworth, B. 1984. Genetic revolutions, founder effects, and speciation. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 15, 133–164.
Berlocher, S H. 1984. Genetic changes coinciding with the colonization of California by the walnut husk fly, Rhagoletis completa. Evolution, 38, 906–918.
Bryant, E H, Van Dijks, H, and Van Delden, W. 1981. Genetic variability of the face fly, Musca autumnalis De Geer, in relation to a population bottleneck. Evolution, 35, 872–881.
Chemsak, J A. 1963. Taxonomy and bionomics of the genus Tetraopes (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Univ Calif Pub in Entomol, 30, 1–90.
Davis, M A. 1981. The flight capacity of dispersing milkweed beetles, Tetraopes tetraophthalmus. Ann Entomol Soc Amer, 74, 385–386.
Davis, M A. 1984. The flight and migration ecology of the red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetraophthalmus). Ecology, 65, 230–234.
Davis, M A. 1986. Geographic patterns in the flight ability of a monophagous beetle Oecologia, 69, 407–412.
Eanes, W F, Gaffney, P M, Koehn, R K, and Simon, C M. 1977. A study of sexual selection in natural populations of the milkweed beetle Tetraopes tetraophthalmus. Christiansen, F. B. and Fenchel, T. M. (eds.), In Measuring Selection in Natural Populations', Springer, New York, 49–64.
Eanes, W F, and Koehn, R K. 1978. An analysis of genetic structure in the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus L. Evolution, 32, 784–797.
Endler, J A. 1979. Gene flow and life history patterns. Genetics, 93, 263–284.
Jacobson, J W, and Hsiao, T H. 1983. Isozyme variation between geographic populations of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am, 76, 162–166.
Kimura, M, and Weiss, G H. 1964. The stepping stone model of population structure and the decrease of genetic correlation with distance. Genetics, 49, 561–576.
Lande, R. 1985. The fixation of chromosomal rearrangements in a subdivided population with local extinction and colonization. Heredity, 54, 323–332.
Larson, A, Wake, D B, and Yanev, K P. 1984. Measuring gene flow among populations having high levels of genetic fragmentation. Genetics, 106, 293–398.
Lawrence, W S. 1982. Sexual dimorphism in between and within patch movements of a monophagous insect: Tetraopes (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Oecologia, 53, 245–250.
Maruyama, T, and Kimura, M. 1980. Genetic variability and effective population size when local extinction and recolonization are frequent. Proc Nat Acad Sci, 77, 6710–6714.
McCauley, D E. 1983. Gene flow distances in natural populations of Tetraopes tetraophthalmus. Evolution, 37, 1239–1246.
McCauley, D E, Ott, J R, Stine, A, and McGrath, S. 1981. Limited dispersal and its effect on population structure in the milkweed beetle Tetraopes tetraophthalmus. Oecologia, 51, 145–150.
McDonald, I C, Krysan, J L, and Johnson, O A. 1985. Genetic variation within and among geographic populations of Diabrotica barberi (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am, 78, 271–278.
McKechnie, S W, Ehrlich, P R, and White, R R. 1975. Population genetics of Euphydrias butterflies. I. Genetic variation and the neutrality hypothesis. Genetics, 81, 571–594.
Pashley, D P, Johnson, S J, and Sparks, A N. 1985. Genetic population structure of migratory moths: the fall armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am, 78, 756–762.
Phillips, T W, and Lanier, G N. 1985. Genetic divergence among populations of the white pine weevil, Pissodes strobi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am, 78, 744–750.
Selander, R K, and Whittam, T S. 1983. Protein polymorphisms and the genetic structure of populations. Nei, M. and Koehn, R. K. (eds) In Evolution of Genes and Proteins, Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, pp. 89–114.
Slatkin, M. 1977. Gene flow and genetic drift in a species subject to frequent local extinctions. Theor Pop Biol, 12, 253–262.
Slatkin, M. 1985a. Gene flow in natural populations Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 16, 393–430.
Slatkin, M. 1985b. Rare alleles as indicators of gene flow. Evolution, 39, 53–65.
Snyder, T P, and Linton, M C. 1984. Population structure in black flies: allozymic and morphological estimates for Prosimulium mixtum and P.fuscum (Diptera: Simuliidae). Evolution, 38, 942–956.
Sokal, R R, and Rohlf, F J. 1981. Biometry. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.
Stock, M W, Amman, G D, and Highby, P K. 1984. Genetic variation among mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus pon-derosae) (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) populations from seven western states. Ann Entomol Soc Am, 77, 760–764.
Ward, P S. 1980. Genetic variation and population differentiation in the Rhytidoponera impressa group, a species complex of Ponerine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Evolution, 34, 1060–1076.
Weir, B S, and Cockerham, C C. 1984. Estimating F-statistics for the analysis of population structure. Evolution, 38, 1358–1370.
Werth, C R. 1985. Implementing an isozyme laboratory at a field station. Va J Sci, 36, 53–76.
Wright, S. 1969. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations, 2. The Theory of Gene Frequencies, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago.
Wright, S. 1977. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations, 3, Experimental Results and Evolutionary Deductions, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago.
Wright, S. 1978. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations 4, Variability Within and Among Natural Populations, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago.
Zera, A J. 1981. Genetic structure of two species of water-striders (Gerridae: Hemiptera) with differing degrees of winglessness. Evolution, 35, 218–225.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McCauley, D., Eanes, W. Hierarchical population structure analysis of the milkweed beetle, Tetraopes tetraophthalmus (Forster). Heredity 58, 193–201 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1987.33
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1987.33
This article is cited by
-
10.1007/BF00343507
CrossRef Listing of Deleted DOIs (2011)
-
Hierarchical genetic structure and effective population sizes in Phalacrus substriatus
Heredity (1997)
-
Population structure and gene flow in Stomion: a species swarm of flightless beetles of the Galápagos Islands
Heredity (1995)
-
Population structure of a predatory beetle: the importance of gene flow for intertrophic level interactions
Heredity (1994)