Müllerian mimicry as a result of codivergence between velvet ants and spider wasps

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 14;9(11):e112942. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112942. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Recent studies have delineated a large Nearctic Müllerian mimicry complex in Dasymutilla velvet ants. Psorthaspis spider wasps live in areas where this mimicry complex is found and are phenotypically similar to Dasymutilla. We tested the idea that Psorthaspis spider wasps are participating in the Dasymutilla mimicry complex and that they codiverged with Dasymutilla. We performed morphometric analyses and human perception tests, and tabulated distributional records to determine the fit of Psorthaspis to the Dasymutilla mimicry complex. We inferred a dated phylogeny using nuclear molecular markers (28S, elongation factor 1-alpha, long-wavelength rhodopsin and wingless) for Psorthaspis species and compared it to a dated phylogeny of Dasymutilla. We tested for codivergence between the two groups using two statistical analyses. Our results show that Psorthaspis spider wasps are morphologically similar to the Dasymutilla mimicry rings. In addition, our tests indicate that Psorthaspis and Dasymutilla codiverged to produce similar color patterns. This study expands the breadth of the Dasymutilla Müllerian mimicry complex and provides insights about how codivergence influenced the evolution of mimicry in these groups.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Ants / physiology*
  • Biological Mimicry
  • Color
  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / classification
  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / metabolism
  • Phylogeny
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 28S / classification
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 28S / metabolism
  • Rhodopsin / classification
  • Rhodopsin / metabolism
  • Wasps / physiology*
  • Wnt Proteins / classification
  • Wnt Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 28S
  • Wnt Proteins
  • Rhodopsin

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.1210788

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov) award DEB-0743763 to JPP and CDvD, and Utah Agricultural Experiment Station (http://uaes.usu.edu/), Utah State UAES #8743, to JPP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.