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opencc-by-4.0Feb 2023View details →

Data, scripts and supplementary materials for "Color polymorphism and conspicuousness do not increase speciation rates in Lacertids" (de Solan et al. 2023)

This data_and_script file contain the phylogeny and coloration data, as well as the R script used in the article "Color polymorphism and conspicuousness do not increase speciation rates in Lacertids".The other file contain the supplementary materials for the publication.

opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

Habitat selection and refuge-use by a color polymorphic salamander reveal behavioral niche differences

Color polymorphic species provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the ecology and evolution of intraspecific niche differences. The red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus, is a fully terrestrial lungless salamander with two common color forms, striped and unstriped. Previous research suggests the morphs may be differentially adapted to surface and subsurface microhabitats, with the unstriped morph being more fossorial. This hypothesis predicts that the unstriped morph should be more sensitive to the risks of surface activity (e.g., thermal stress, dehydration, predation), and therefore be more selective than striped morphs when choosing soil surface microhabitats. To test this hypothesis, we experimentally manipulated leaf litter mass in small forest patches (~0.45m2). Leaf litter addition reduced soil temperatures, buffered against changes in air temperature, and likely provided physical protection from predators. Over three years, we found that unstriped adults responded positively to leaf litter addition, but striped adults did not. In addition, unstriped morphs spent significantly more time in protective refuges (opaque, moistened tubes) than striped morphs in laboratory assays. Taken together, the field and laboratory results support the hypothesis that the unstriped morph is more sensitive to the risks of surface activity, and therefore is more likely to be fossorial. This difference in microhabitat use, combined with spatiotemporal variation in leaf litter accumulation on the forest floor, may play an important role in the maintenance of the polymorphism.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Integrative taxonomic analysis to reveal the species status of Bombus flavidus, combining COI and nuclear sequencing, wing morphometrics and secretions used for mate attraction as well as patterns of color polymorphism

Bumble bees, due to their morphological monotony and color diversity, have presented difficulties with species delimitation. Recent bumble bee declines have made it ever more imperative to resolve the status of species to address conservation concerns. Some of the taxa found to be most threatened are the often-rare socially parasitic bumble bees, which have additional trophic requirements. Among the socially parasitic bumble bees, Bombus flavidus Eversmann has contentious species status. While multiple separate species allied with Bombus flavidus have been suggested, until recently, recognition of two species, a Nearctic Bombus fernaldae (Franklin) and Palearctic B. flavidus, was favoured. Limited genetic data, however, suggested that even these could be a single widespread species, B. flavidus. We addressed the species status of this lineage using an integrative taxonomic approach, combining COI and nuclear sequencing, wing morphometrics and secretions used for mate attraction. We also explore patterns of color polymorphism that have previously confounded taxonomy in this lineage. Our results support the conspecific status of Bombus fernaldae and Bombus flavidus, however, sampling specimens from across the range of these two taxa revealed a distinct population within this broader species confined to eastern North America. This makes the distribution of the social parasite B. flavidus the broadest of any bumble bee, broader than the known distribution of any non-parasitic bumble bee species. Analysis of color phenotypes revealed that color polymorphisms are retained across the range of the species, but may be influenced by local mimicry complexes. Following these results, Bombus flavidus Eversmann, 1852 is synonymized with Bombus fernaldae (Franklin, 1911) syn. nov. and a subspecific status, Bombus flavidus appalachiensis ssp. nov., is assigned to the distinct lineage ranging from the Appalachians to the eastern boreal regions of the United States and far southeastern Canada.

opencc-zeroJan 2022View details →

A single locus regulates a female-limited color pattern polymorphism in a reptile

Animal coloration is often expressed in periodic patterns that can arise from differential cell migration, yet how these processes are regulated remains elusive. We show that a female-limited polymorphism in dorsal patterning (diamond/chevron) in the brown anole is controlled by a single Mendelian locus. This locus contains the gene CCDC170 that is adjacent to, and co-expressed with, the Estrogen receptor-1 gene, explaining why the polymorphism is female-limited. CCDC170 is an organizer of the Golgi-microtubule network underlying a cell's ability to migrate and the two segregating alleles encode structurally different proteins. Our agent-based modeling of skin development demonstrates that, in principle, a change in cell migratory behaviors is sufficient to switch between the two morphs. These results suggest that CCDC170 might have been co-opted as a switch between color patterning morphs, likely by modulating cell migratory behaviors.

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

Raw data for: Captivating color: evidence for optimal stimulus design in a polymorphic prey lure

Many species – humans included – employ color as an instrument of deception. One intriguing example of this resides in the conspicuous abstract color patterns displayed on the bodies of female orb weaving spiders. These displays increase prey interception rates and thereby function at least as visual lures. Their chromatic properties however vary extensively, both across and within species, with discrete forms often co-existing in the manner of a stable polymorphism. Variation is principally expressed in terms of signal hue (color per se), but it is unclear how attractiveness scales with this property and if extant morphs are maximally attractive relative to a graded range of potential alternatives. We examined these questions by assessing catch rates among color-manipulated females of the dimorphic jeweled spider Gasteracantha fornicata in their natural webs. The manipulation altered dorsal appearance in a manner akin to adding six new variants of their existing white/yellow phenotypes. This magnified the natural variation in stimulus hue independently of chroma (saturation) across a range spanning most of the color spectrum. Catch rate varied across treatments in simple accordance with how greatly stimulus hue deviated from either of the two extant spider phenotypes. Predictions based upon fly-perceived chromatic and achromatic background contrast were clearly unsupported despite dipterans constituting ~60 % of identifiable prey. This study supports the importance of signal coloration per se in G. fornicata and suggests that extant lure phenotypes reside in a broadly optimal spectral range for stimulating their aggregate prey community.

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

Data for: Heritability and parental effects in telomere length in a color polymorphic long-lived bird

Telomere length, an indicator of senescence, has been shown to be heritable but can also be affected by environmental factors, like parental effects. Investigating heritability as well as parental effects and rearing environment can help us to understand the factors affecting offspring telomeres. Moreover, how phenotypic parental traits linked with fitness can impact offspring telomere length is still unclear. A phenotypic marker closely associated with physiological traits and fitness is melanin-based color polymorphism, which in tawny owl (Strix aluco) is highly heritable and strongly associated with adult telomere shortening and survival. We studied narrow-sense heritability (h2) of telomere length (RTL), as well as the impact of parental age and color morph and their interaction on offspring telomere length. Offspring RTL at fledging was strongly positively correlated with both mother and father RTL at breeding. Offspring RTL was also negatively associated with father age, suggesting that older fathers sired offspring with shorter telomeres. Parental color morph did not explain offspring telomere length and there were no interactive effects of parental morph and age, despite previously documented morph-specific senescence patterns. Our results suggest that telomere length is highly heritable and affected by paternal age, but not related to color polymorphism. This suggests that either morph-specific telomere shortening as adult does not result in significantly shorter telomeres in their gametes, or that parents compensate morph-specific senescence via parental care. Morph-specific patterns of telomere dynamics in polymorphic species may thus emerge from different life-history strategies adopted in adulthood.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2015View details →

Supplementary material 2 from: Leblanc L, San Jose M, Barr N, Rubinoff D (2015) A phylogenetic assessment of the polyphyletic nature and intraspecific color polymorphism in the Bactrocera dorsalis complex (Diptera, Tephritidae). In: De Meyer M, Clarke AR, Vera MT, Hendrichs J (Eds) Resolution of Cryptic Species Complexes of Tephritid Pests to Enhance SIT Application and Facilitate International Trade. ZooKeys 540: 339-367. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.540.9786

Figure S2: Explanation note: Maximum likelihood tree, based the EF-1α gene dataset. Support values above branches are Maximum Likelihood Bootstrap values / Bayesian Posterior Probabilities. Scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site. Species in the Oriental fruit fly complex are outlined in red.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2015View details →

Supplementary material 1 from: Leblanc L, San Jose M, Barr N, Rubinoff D (2015) A phylogenetic assessment of the polyphyletic nature and intraspecific color polymorphism in the Bactrocera dorsalis complex (Diptera, Tephritidae). In: De Meyer M, Clarke AR, Vera MT, Hendrichs J (Eds) Resolution of Cryptic Species Complexes of Tephritid Pests to Enhance SIT Application and Facilitate International Trade. ZooKeys 540: 339-367. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.540.9786

Figure S1: Explanation note: Maximum likelihood tree, based the COI gene dataset. Support values above branches are Maximum Likelihood Bootstrap values / Bayesian Posterior Probabilities. Scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site. Species in the Oriental fruit fly complex are outlined in red.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2015View details →

Supplementary material 3 from: Leblanc L, San Jose M, Barr N, Rubinoff D (2015) A phylogenetic assessment of the polyphyletic nature and intraspecific color polymorphism in the Bactrocera dorsalis complex (Diptera, Tephritidae). In: De Meyer M, Clarke AR, Vera MT, Hendrichs J (Eds) Resolution of Cryptic Species Complexes of Tephritid Pests to Enhance SIT Application and Facilitate International Trade. ZooKeys 540: 339-367. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.540.9786

Figure S3: Explanation note: Maximum likelihood tree, based the period gene dataset. Support values above branches are Maximum Likelihood Bootstrap values / Bayesian Posterior Probabilities. Scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site. Species in the Oriental fruit fly complex are outlined in red.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Population genomics of divergence among extreme and intermediate color forms in a polymorphic insect

Geographic variation in insect coloration is among the most intriguing examples of rapid phenotypic evolution and provides opportunities to study mechanisms of phenotypic change and diversification in closely related lineages. The bumble bee Bombus bifarius comprises two geographically disparate color groups characterized by red-banded and black-banded abdominal pigmentation, but with a range of spatially and phenotypically intermediate populations across western North America. Microsatellite analyses have revealed that B. bifarius in the USA are structured into two major groups concordant with geography and color pattern, but also suggest ongoing gene flow among regional populations. In this study, we better resolve the relationships among major color groups to better understand evolutionary mechanisms promoting and maintaining such polymorphism. We analyze >90,000 and >25,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms derived from transcriptome (RNAseq) and double digest restriction site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD), respectively, in representative samples from spatial and color pattern extremes in B. bifarius as well as phenotypic and geographic intermediates. Both ddRAD and RNAseq data illustrate substantial genome-wide differentiation of the red-banded (eastern) color form from both black-banded (western) and intermediate (central) phenotypes and negligible differentiation among the latter populations, with no obvious admixture among bees from the two major lineages. Results thus indicate much stronger background differentiation among B. bifarius lineages than expected, highlighting potential challenges for revealing loci underlying color polymorphism from population genetic data alone. These findings will have significance for resolving taxonomic confusion in this species and in future efforts to investigate color-pattern evolution in B. bifarius and other polymorphic bumble bee species.

opennotspecifiedMay 2014View details →

Fig. 3 in Genetic Control of Color Polymorphism in the Stag Beetle Cyclommatus metallifer Boisduval (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Fig. 3. Morphological trait comparisons between gold (Gg) and black (gg) males of Cyclommatus metallifer finae. A) Comparison of pupal body weight, error bars indicate standard deviation, B) Scaling relationship between mandibular length and prothoracic width, C) Scaling relationship between elytral length and prothoracic width. There were no significant differences in morphological traits between the gold and black males.

FIG. 2 in Elevation of Divergent Color Polymorphic and Monomorphic Lizard Lineages (Squamata: Agamidae) to Species Level

FIG. 2. Genetic divergence between Ctenophorus modestus (northern Flinders Ranges [NFR], southern Flinders Ranges [SFR], Olary Ranges [OR]) and C. decresii (mainland south [MS] which encompasses the Mount Lofty Ranges and Fleurieu Peninsula, and Kangaroo Island [KI]) and specimens examined for morphological analyses. (A) Results of a Bayesian analysis of ancestry in the program STRUCTURE (K ¼ 2). Each vertical bar represents an individual and individuals are ordered by population and latitude (from north to south). The proportion of white and gray represents the proportion of C. modestus and C. decresii ancestry in each individual, respectively. (B) Two-dimensional principal coordinate plot (PCoA) showing pairwise genetic distances between individuals: Ctenophorus modestus (squares), C. decresii (circles). 95% confidence ellipses of each population are shown. Both A and B were constructed from a genomic SNP dataset of 1333 SNPs (n ¼ 148). (C) Map showing geographic locations of samples of C. modestus and C. decresii shown in A and B.

FIG. 6 in Elevation of Divergent Color Polymorphic and Monomorphic Lizard Lineages (Squamata: Agamidae) to Species Level

FIG. 6. Geographic distribution of Ctenophorus modestus (squares) and C. decresii (circles) based on specimens in Australian Museums from the Atlas of Living Australia (data: https://doi.org/10.26197/ 5d91626857226); coordinates which were likely inaccurate (e.g., unsuitable habitat) were removed. Protected areas described in the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD, 2018) are shown as gray areas. The extent of occurrence is shown for C. modestus (49,102 km2; orange lines) and C. decresii (6,604 km2 total [mainland: 5,772 km2; Kangaroo Island: 832 km2], blue lines).

FIG. 1 in Elevation of Divergent Color Polymorphic and Monomorphic Lizard Lineages (Squamata: Agamidae) to Species Level

FIG. 1. (A) The blue mainland male throat of C. decresii sensu stricto and (B) the blue reticulated with yellow throat found on Kangaroo Island. The four male throat morphs of Ctenophorus modestus: (D) orange, (E) yellow, (F) orange-yellow (yellow with an orange central patch), and (G) gray. Male dorsolateral patterning and coloration differ where (C) C. decresii sensu stricto has a more ''pinched'' or broken lateral stripe with a greater extent of bordering orange or yellow coloration, and (H) C. modestus has a relatively straight edged lateral stripe with cream and orange coloration terminating at the shoulder.

FIG. 4 in Elevation of Divergent Color Polymorphic and Monomorphic Lizard Lineages (Squamata: Agamidae) to Species Level

FIG. 4. Males (A, C) and females (B, D) of Ctenophorus decresii (A, B) from Palmer and Mengler's Hill Lookout, respectively, and C. modestus (C, D) from Telowie Gorge, all from South Australia, Australia (photos: copyright Adam Elliott).

FIG. 3 in Elevation of Divergent Color Polymorphic and Monomorphic Lizard Lineages (Squamata: Agamidae) to Species Level

FIG. 3. (A) Map showing localities of examined museum specimens: Ctenophorus modestus (squares); C. decresii sensu stricto (circles); C. fionni (triangles); and C. vadnappa (plus [þ]). Specimens without GPS coordinates are excluded. (B–C) Linear discriminant analyses of (A) males and (B) females based on 23 variables: Ctenophorus modestus (squares); C. decresii (circles); C. fionni (triangles); and C. vadnappa (plus [þ]). 95% confidence ellipses are shown. The lectotypes (males) and paralectotypes (females) of C. modestus and C. decresii are indicated with arrows.

FIG. 5 in Elevation of Divergent Color Polymorphic and Monomorphic Lizard Lineages (Squamata: Agamidae) to Species Level

FIG. 5. (A) Dorsal (left) and ventral (right) photographs of the lectotype of Ctenophorus decresii (Duméril and Bibron, 1837; MNHN 6545). This specimen is an adult male collected from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, in January 1803 (photos: Nicolas Vidal, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle Paris). (B) Dorsal (left) and ventral (right) photographs of the lectotype of Ctenophorus modestus (Ahl, 1926; ZMB 54516). This specimen is a subadult male from ''Australien'' without an exact locality or reference to a collector or donor (photos: Frank Tillack, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin).

opennotspecifiedApr 2018View details →

FIG. 7 in Differential Survival and the Effects of Predation on a Color Polymorphic Species, the Red-Backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

FIG. 7. Kaplan-Meier survival plots of (a) avian attacks and (b) mammalian attacks on striped and unstriped clay models (n = 40 each) that were checked weekly over 3 wk. (a) Unstriped models of P. cinereus were significantly more likely to not be attacked by birds (solid line, n = 38) than striped models (dashed line, n = 31) (Z = 5.04, P = 0.0248). (b) There was no difference in models' ''survival'' from mammalian attacks based on color (striped: n = 31; unstriped: n = 30; Z = 0.07, P = 0.787).

opennotspecifiedApr 2018View details →

FIG. 6 in Differential Survival and the Effects of Predation on a Color Polymorphic Species, the Red-Backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

FIG. 6. The cumulative model weights for encounter probability (p) in Spring 2013, 2014, 2015 showed equivocal support for both age and color morph (a X c) affecting encounter probability in the spring seasons; the null model (.) had similar weights. In Fall 2013 and 2014, the model including both age and color morph (a X c) was more heavily weighted than the other models in each year.