scholarly journals Conserved and Divergent Aspects of Plasticity and Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Size and Shape in Three Diptera

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micael Reis ◽  
Natalia Siomava ◽  
Ernst A. Wimmer ◽  
Nico Posnien

The ability of powered flight in insects facilitated their great evolutionary success allowing them to occupy various ecological niches. Beyond this primary task, wings are often involved in various premating behaviors, such as the generation of courtship songs and the initiation of mating in flight. These specific functions imply special adaptations of wing morphology, as well as sex-specific wing morphologies. Although wing morphology has been extensively studied in Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen, 1830), a comprehensive understanding of developmental plasticity and the impact of sex on wing size and shape plasticity is missing for other Diptera. Therefore, we raised flies of the three Diptera species Drosophila melanogaster, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) and Musca domestica (Linnaeus, 1758) at different environmental conditions and applied geometric morphometrics to analyze wing shape. Our data showed extensive interspecific differences in wing shape, as well as a clear sexual wing shape dimorphism in all three species. We revealed an impact of different rearing temperatures on wing shape in all three species, which was mostly explained by plasticity in wing size in D. melanogaster. Rearing densities had significant effects on allometric wing shape in D. melanogaster, while no obvious effects were observed for the other two species. Additionally, we did not find evidence for sex-specific response to different rearing conditions in D. melanogaster and C. capitata, while a male-specific impact of different rearing conditions was observed on non-allometric wing shape in M. domestica. Overall, our data strongly suggests that many aspects of wing morphology underly species-specific adaptations and we discuss potential developmental and functional implications of our results.

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanawat Chaiphongpachara ◽  
Sedthapong Laojun

Culex sitiens Wiedemann (Diptera, Culicidae) is a mosquito vector that is found in coastal areas. Effective control of mosquitoes requires knowledge of the biology, ecology, and behavior of the vector as well as of various other aspects, including its morphology. Currently, variations in the wing size and shape of coastal Cx. sitiens have not been described. Here, morphological changes were studied in the wings of Cx. sitiens from a coastal area of Samut Songkhram Province, Thailand. Samples were collected at night (6:00 pm–6:00 am) during single weeks of September in the years 2015–2017 using Center for Disease Control light traps with dry ice as bait. Eighteen landmarks of each individual were selected and digitized for landmark-based geometric morphometric analyses. Wing size variability was estimated using the isometric estimator of centroid size. Wing-shape variables were computed as Procrustes superimposition with residual coordinates of the 18 landmarks following a Generalized Procrustes Analysis and the principal components of residual coordinates. Degrees of wing-shape dissimilarity among individuals were analyzed using discriminant analysis or canonical variate analysis, which was illustrated in a discriminant space of canonical variables. Differences in wing size and shape among populations were calculated using nonparametric permutations based on 1000 runs with Bonferroni correction tests at a p-value of <0.05. The wing sizes and shapes of the mosquitoes differed significantly between observation years in all population groups, as indicated by nonparametric tests (1000 runs) with the Bonferroni correction. Differing rainfall between observation years was related to morphological changes in mosquito populations, presumably reflecting environmental adaptation. Differences in the wing morphology of Cx. sitiens between annual populations reflect adaptation to environmental variables such as rainfall and may affect the potential to act as insect vectors of human disease. These observations may facilitate the development of tools for managing mosquito-borne disease.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Siomava ◽  
Ernst A. Wimmer ◽  
Nico Posnien

AbstractThe ability to powered flight facilitated a great evolutionary success of insects and allowed them to occupy various ecological niches. In addition to primary tasks, wings are often involved in various premating behaviors, such as courtship songs and initiation of mating in flight. These specific implications require certain wing morphology, size, and shape. Although wing properties have been extensively studied in Drosophila, a comprehensive understanding of sexual shape dimorphisms and developmental plasticity in wing morphology is missing for other Diptera. To acquire this knowledge, we applied geometric morphometrics and analyzed wing shape in three dipteran species (Drosophila, Ceratitis, and Musca) raised in different environmental conditions. We extensively studied sexual dimorphism and impact of sex and environment on the adult wing morphology. We present allometric and non-allometric shape differences between males and females and show that wing shape is influenced by rearing conditions in a sex dependent manner. We determine common trends in shape alterations and show that the anterior and posterior crossveins are likely to be plastic regions changing substantially at different environmental conditions. We discuss our data in the light of vein development and hypothesize that the observed shape differences might recapitulate different mating behaviors and flight capabilities.


Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1825 (1) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
JASMINA LUDOŠKI ◽  
LJUBINKA FRANCUSKI ◽  
ANTE VUJIĆ ◽  
VESNA MILANKOV

A landmark-based geometric morphometric approach was used to assess differences in the size and shape of wing among/within three species of the Cheilosia canicularis group (Diptera: Syrphidae): C. canicularis, C. himantopus and C. orthotricha. Wing size and shape variation was observed from 25, 176 and 41 specimens of C. canicularis, C. himantopus and C. orthotricha, respectively, collected from six localities on the Balkan Peninsula. Significant differences in wing size were obtained among the analysed species and canonical variate analysis showed that wing shape was sufficiently different to allow the correct classification of 73% individuals of C. canicularis, 80% of C. orthotricha and 94% of C. himantopus, and clear delimitation of the species pairs C. canicularis/C. orthotricha and C. himantopus/C. orthotricha. In all analysed species, the consistent sex dimorphism in wing shape was observed indicating that female specimens had shorter and broader wings than males. The UPGMA cluster analysis based on squared Mahalanobis distances revealed close accordance with previously published phylogenetic relationships of these species indicated by allozyme and DNA sequence data analysis. Our results suggested that wing parameters contain useful information in quantification phenotypic variation and identification of species in this challenging group for taxonomy and systematics.


PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Leonard ◽  
Katie K.Y. Wat ◽  
Clare McArthur ◽  
Dieter F. Hochuli

Changes in the mean and variance of phenotypic traits like wing and head morphology are frequently used as indicators of environmental stress experienced during development and may serve as a convenient index of urbanization exposure. To test this claim, we collected adult western honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus 1758, Hymenoptera, Apidae) workers from colonies located across an urbanization gradient, and quantified associations between the symmetries of both wing size and wing shape, and several landscape traits associated with urbanization. Landscape traits were assessed at two spatial scales (three km and 500 m) and included vegetation and anthropogenic land cover, total road length, road proximity and, population and dwelling density. We then used geometric morphometric techniques to determine two wing asymmetry scores—centroid size, a measure of wing size asymmetry and Procrustes distance, a measure of wing shape asymmetry. We found colony dependent differences in both wing size and shape asymmetry. Additionally, we found a negative association between wing shape asymmetry and road proximity at the three km buffer, and associations between wing shape asymmetry and road proximity, anthropogenic land cover and vegetation cover at the 500 m buffer. Whilst we were unable to account for additional variables that may influence asymmetry including temperature, pesticide presence, and parasitism our results demonstrate the potential usefulness of wing shape asymmetry for assessing the impact of certain landscape traits associated with urbanization. Furthermore, they highlight important spatial scale considerations that warrant investigation in future phenotypic studies assessing urbanization impact.


Genetics ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-689
Author(s):  
Sandro Cavicchi ◽  
Daniela Guerra ◽  
Gianfranco Giorgi ◽  
Cristina Pezzoli

ABSTRACT The effects of environmental temperature on wing size and shape of Drosophila melanogaster were analyzed in populations derived from an Oregon laboratory strain kept at three temperatures (18°, 25°, 28°) for 4 yr. Temperature-directed selection was identified for both wing size and shape. The length of the four longitudinal veins, used as a test for wing size variations in the different populations, appears to be affected by both genetic and maternal influences. Vein expression appears to be dependent upon developmental pattern of the wing: veins belonging to the same compartment are coordinated in their expression and relative position, whereas veins belonging to different compartments are not. Both wing and cell areas show genetic divergence, particularly in the posterior compartment. Cell number seems to compensate for cell size variations. Such compensation is carried out both at the level of single organisms and at the level of population as a whole. The two compartments behave as individual units of selection.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1989-1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. ABBOTT ◽  
S. BEDHOMME ◽  
A. K. CHIPPINDALE

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 738-744
Author(s):  
M P Macedo ◽  
L C Arantes ◽  
R Tidon

Abstract Competition influences the expression of morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits and also regulates ecological and evolutionary dynamics. This study aims to identify and characterize changes in wing morphology in response to intra- and interspecific competition in three necrophagous blowfly species. Using geometric morphometry, we analyzed 3,238 wings from Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826), Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830, and C. vomitoria (Linnaeus, 1758) raised under cloistered and pairwise conditions. The three species reacted similarly to intraspecific competition—reducing wing size with increased competition—but displayed contrasting patterns of response to interspecific competition. Lucilia sericata displayed a directional change in wing shape in response to an interspecific competitor, while C. vicina increased the scattering of individuals across the morphospace, and C. vomitoria displayed no significant change in response to the same stimulus. Our results show that the same stimulus yields distinctive responses; thus, different competition-related strategies are expected to occur in the three species.


2009 ◽  
Vol 141 (6) ◽  
pp. 550-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Mitrovski Bogdanović ◽  
Ana Ivanović ◽  
Željko Tomanović ◽  
Vladimir Žikić ◽  
Petr Starý ◽  
...  

AbstractSexual dimorphism in size and shape has been studied in a wide range of organisms, but intraspecific variation in sexual dimorphism remains largely unexplored. In many parasitoid species the diversity of morphological-variation patterns within species is complicated by host effects. It is not known whether the magnitude and direction of sexual size dimorphism can be affected by the developmental environment (i.e., different host species). In this study we explored patterns of sexual dimorphism in size and shape in the aphid parasitoid Ephedrus persicae Froggatt. The analyzed sample consisted of 83 females and 54 males reared from five species of host aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) from various areas of the Palaearctic region. The most notable result of the study is that E. persicae displays divergent patterns of sexual dimorphism in body size and wing size: females have larger bodies than males, but males have larger wings. Our analysis of wing size and wing shape also showed significant within species variation in the degree and pattern of sexual dimorphism. Variation in wing shape between the sexes seems to be more conserved than variation in wing size. Variation in wing shape is influenced predominantly by host (biotype) and to a lesser extent by sexual dimorphism within a biotype.


2011 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.K. Schutze ◽  
A. Jessup ◽  
A.R. Clarke

AbstractFour morphologically cryptic species of the Bactrocera dorsalis fruit fly complex (B. dorsalis s.s., B. papayae, B. carambolae and B. philippinensis) are serious agricultural pests. As they are difficult to diagnose using traditional taxonomic techniques, we examined the potential for geometric morphometric analysis of wing size and shape to discriminate between them. Fifteen wing landmarks generated size and shape data for 245 specimens for subsequent comparisons among three geographically distinct samples of each species. Intraspecific wing size was significantly different within samples of B. carambolae and B. dorsalis s.s. but not within samples of B. papayae or B. philippinensis. Although B. papayae had the smallest wings (average centroid size=6.002 mm±0.061 SE) and B. dorsalis s.s. the largest (6.349 mm±0.066 SE), interspecific wing size comparisons were generally non-informative and incapable of discriminating species. Contrary to the wing size data, canonical variate analysis based on wing shape data discriminated all species with a relatively high degree of accuracy; individuals were correctly reassigned to their respective species on average 93.27% of the time. A single sample group of B. carambolae from locality ‘TN Malaysia’ was the only sample to be considerably different from its conspecific groups with regards to both wing size and wing shape. This sample was subsequently deemed to have been originally misidentified and likely represents an undescribed species. We demonstrate that geometric morphometric techniques analysing wing shape represent a promising approach for discriminating between morphologically cryptic taxa of the B. dorsalis species complex.


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