title: Evolution of host utilization patterns in the seed beetle genus Mimosestes Bridwell (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae).
abstract: The evolutionary history of diet breadth expansion and intergeneric host shifts in the seed beetle genus Mimosestes were reconstructed to investigate the process of host range expansion in phytophagous insects. The evolutionary correlation between diet breadth and variation in oviposition behavior of Mimosestes was also examined to estimate the process of generalist evolution within the genus. Ancestral state reconstruction based on a molecular phylogeny inferred from three mitochondrial markers (16S rRNA, 12S rRNA, and COI) and one nuclear marker (EF-1alpha) revealed that host utilization patterns were shaped by repeated colonizations to novel or pre-adapted host plants. Neither plant genus and species group level host conservatism nor an evolutionary tendency toward specialization was found in the genus, contrary to the expectations of plant-insect co-evolutionary theory. In addition, statistical analyses revealed that diet breadth was significantly correlated with oviposition behavior, suggesting that behavioral factors such as the oviposition preferences of female seed beetles affect the expansion of diet breadth in generalists.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Systems Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba 3-8-1, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. seedbeetle@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Toshihide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonet
authors.forename: Hiraku
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshitake
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romero-Nápoles
authors.forename: Utsugi
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jinbo
authors.forename: Motomi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D010058:Oviposition / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial