Geographic variation in phenotypic divergence between two hybridizing field cricket species

By

Byerly, Amy R.
Jenck, Clara
Goetz, Alexander R. B.
Weissman, David B.
Gray, David A.
Ross, Charles L.
Maroja, Luana S.
Larson, Erica L.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023-9-25

Original Publication

Journal of orthoptera research : JOR

Volume

32

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

189--200

Subjects

Gryllus hybrid zone local adaptation morphology Or

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Philadelphia, Penn Orthopterists' Society 1992-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.32.90713

 

Abstract

Patterns of morphological divergence across species’ ranges can provide insight into local adaptation and speciation. In this study, we compared phenotypic divergence among 4,221 crickets from 337 populations of two closely related species of field cricket, Gryllus firmus and G. pennsylvanicus, and their hybrids. We found that these species differ across their geographic range in key morphological traits, such as body size and ovipositor length, and we directly compared phenotype with genotype for a subset of crickets to demonstrate nuclear genetic introgression, phenotypic intermediacy of hybrids, and essentially unidirectional mitochondrial introgression. We discuss how these morphological traits relate to life history differences between the two species. Our comparisons across geographic areas support prior research suggesting that cryptic variation within G. firmus may represent different species. Our study highlights how variable morphology can be across wide-ranging species and the importance of studying reproductive barriers in more than one or two transects of a hybrid zone.