title: Host plant specialization driven by sexual selection.
abstract: We propose a new mechanism based on sexual selection to explain the evolution of diet breadth in insects. More specifically, we show that mate choice in females for certain diet-derived male pheromones can be exploited by maternal effect genes that preferentially place offspring on a specific host plant, resulting in specialization. Our analytical model also suggests that the process is more likely to occur with species that show male-congregating mating strategies, such as lekking and hilltopping. The model offers a new explanation for the similarity between the composition of male lepidopteran pheromones and the chemistry of their host plants and also suggests a novel mechanism of host plant shift. This is the first time that sexual selection has been proposed to drive host plant specialization and the first time that a mechanism with selection acting solely on the adult stage has been shown to be capable of determining larval feeding habits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. tquental@oeb.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Tiago B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Quental
authors.forename: Manus M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Patten
authors.forename: Naomi E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Pierce
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D007915:Lepidoptera; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants; D012724:Sex Attractants
chemical_list: D012724:Sex Attractants