Abstract
Rhagoletis mendax, the blueberry maggot, is a member of the R. pomonella species complex, well-known as a possible example of sympatric speciation via host race formation. Using electrophoretic data for 16 loci, I have determined that the population structure of R. mendax differs sharply from that of the well-known apple maggot fly, R. pomonella, as follows: (i) geographical differentiation across eastern North America is very small (FST = 0.015 as opposed to FST = 0.220 in R. pomonella), (ii) no latitudinal clines in allele frequencies exist, and (iii) consistent differentiation with respect to individual host plant and host plant species was not seen (although such differentiation could not be studied as effectively in R. mendax as in R. pomonella). Fum and Had show strong linkage disequilibrium in two northern populations, and weak but significant disequilibrium across the entire geographical range of R. mendax. The genetic uniformity of R. mendax may be a consequence of its restriction to a single host plant species over most of its range.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Berlocher, S H. 1993. Gametic disequilibrium between allozyme loci and sex chromosomes in the genus Rhagoletis. J Hered, 84, 431–437.
Berlocher, S H, and Bush, G L. 1982. An electrophoretic analysis of Rhagoletis (Diptera: Tephritidae) phylogeny. Syst Zool, 31, 136–155.
Berlocher, S H, and Enquist, M. 1993. Distribution and host plants of the apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Texas. J Kans Entomol Soc, 66, 145–166.
Berlocher, S H, and Smith, D C. 1983. Segregation and mapping of allozymes of the apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae). J Hered, 74, 337–340.
Berlocher, S H, McPheron, B A, Feder, J L, and Bush, G L. 1993. Genetic differentiation at allozyme loci in the Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) species complex. Ann Entomol Soc Am, 86, 716–727.
Boller, E F, and Prokopy, R J. 1975. Bionomics and management of Rhagoletis. Ann Rev Entomol, 21, 223–246.
Bush, G L. 1966. The taxonomy, cytology, and evolution of the genus Rhagoletis in North America (Diptera: Tephritidae). Bull Mus Comp Zool, 134, 431–562.
Bush, G L. 1969. Sympatric host race formation and speciation in frugivorous flies of the genus Rhagoletis (Diptera: Tephritidae). Evolution, 23, 237–251.
Bush, G L. 1974. The mechanisms of sympatric host race formation in the true fruit flies (Tephritidae). In: White, M. J. D. (ed.) Genetic Mechanisms of Speciation in Insects, pp. 2–23. Australia and New Zealand Book Co., Sydney.
Bush, G L. 1975. Sympatric speciation in phytophagous parasitic insects In: Price, P. W. (ed.) Evolutionary Strategies of Parasitic Insects and Mites, pp. 187–206. Plenum Press, New York.
Bush, G L. 1992. Host race formation and sympatric speciation in Rhagoletis fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae). Psyche, 99, 335–357.
Chambers, G K. 1988. The Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase gene-enzyme system. Adv Genet, 25, 481–488.
Feder, J L, and Bush, G L. 1989. Gene frequency clines in host races of Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the midwestern United States. Heredity, 63, 245–266.
Feder, J L, Chilcote, C A, and Bush, G L. 1988. Genetic differentiation between sympatric host races of Rhagoletis pomonella. Nature, 336, 61–64.
Feder, J L, Chilcote, C A, and Bush, G L. 1989a. Are the apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella) and the blueberry maggot (R. mendax) distinct species? Implications for sympatric speciation. Entomologia exp appl, 51, 113–123.
Feder, J L, Chilcote, C A, and Bush, G L. 1989b. Inheritance and linkage relationships of allozymes in the apple maggot fly. J Hered, 80, 277–283.
Feder, J L, Chilcote, C A, and Bush, G L. 1990a. The geographic pattern of genetic differentiation between host-associated populations of Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the eastern United States. Evolution, 44, 570–594.
Feder, J L, Chilcote, C A, and Bush, G L. 1990b. Regional, local, and microgeographical allele frequency variation between apple and hawthorn populations of Rhagoletis pomonella in western Michigan. Evolution, 44, 595–608.
Feder, J L, Hunt, T A, and Bush, L. 1993. The effect of climate, host plant phenology, and host fidelity on the genetics of apple and hawthorn-infesting races of Rhagoletis pomonella. Entomologia exp appl, 69, 117–135.
Futuyma, D J, and Mayer, G C. 1980. Non-allopatric speciation in animals. Syst Zool, 29, 254–271.
Hedrick, P, Jain, S, and Holden, L. 1978. Multilocus systems in evolution. Evol Biol, 11, 104–154.
Hill, W G. 1974. Estimation of linkage disequilibrium in randomly mating populations. Heredity, 33, 229–239.
Langley, C. 1977. Nonrandom associations between allozymes in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. In: Christiansen, F. B. and Fenchel, T. M. (eds) Measuring Selection in Natural Populations, pp. 265–273. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Lathrop, F H, and Nickels, C B. 1932. The biology and control of the blueberry maggot in Washington County, Maine. U S Dept Agr Tech Bull, no. 275.
Mayr, E. 1963. Animal Species and Evolution. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA.
McPheron, B A. 1987. The Population Genetics of the Colonization of the Western United States by the Apple Maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Ph. D. Thesis, University of Illinois, Urbana.
McPheron, B A, and Berlocher, S H. 1985. Segregation and linkage of allozymes of Rhagoletis tabellaria. J Hered, 76, 218–219.
McPheron, B A, Smith, D C, and Berlocher, S H. 1988a. Microgeographic genetic variation in the apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella. Genetics, 119, 445–451.
McPheron, B A, Smith, D C, and Berlocher, S H. 1988b. Genetic differences between host races of the apple maggot fly. Nature, 336, 64–66.
Nei, M. 1978. Estimation of average heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics, 89, 583–590.
Nei, M, and Li, A. 1973. Linkage disequilibrium in subdivided populations. Genetics, 75, 213–219.
Payne, J A, and Berlocher, S H. 1995a. Phenological and electrophoretic evidence for a new blueberry-infesting species in the Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera:Tephritidae) sibling species complex. Entomologia exp appl, (in press).
Payne, J A, and Berlocher, S H. 1995b. Distribution and host plants of the blueberry maggot, Rhagoletis mendax (Diptera: Tephritidae) in southeastern North America. J Kans Entomol Soc, (in press).
Prokopy, R J, Diehl, S R, and Cooley, S S. 1987. Behavioral evidence for host races in Rhagoletis pomonella flies. Oecologia, 76, 138–147.
Smith, D C. 1988. Heritable divergence of Rhagoletis pomonella host races by seasonal asynchrony. Nature, 336, 66–68.
Swofford, D L, and Selander, R B. 1981. BIOSYS-1: A Fortran program for the comprehensive analysis of electrophoretic data in population genetics and systematics. J Hered, 72, 281–283.
Vander Kloet, S P. 1988. The genus Vaccinium in North America. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Publication 1828.
Vincent, C, and Lareau, M J. 1989. Update on the distribution of the blueberry maggot, Rhagoletis mendax (Diptera: Tephritidae), in Canada. Acta Hort, 241, 333–337.
Wier, B S. 1990a. Intraspecific variation. In: Hillis, D. M. and Moritz, C. (eds) Molecular Systematics, pp. 398–410. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.
Wier, B S. 1990b. Genetic Data Analysis. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.
Wright, S. 1978. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations, vol. 4, Variability in and among Natural Populations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Berlocher, S. Population structure of Rhagoletis mendax, the blueberry maggot. Heredity 74, 542–555 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1995.76
Received:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1995.76
