The evolution of conspecific sperm precedence in Drosophila.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Conspecific sperm precedence takes place when females inseminated by both conspecific and heterospecific sperm preferentially produce conspecific rather than hybrid offspring. Although many studies have documented conspecific sperm precedence, most have only identified it between taxa that are already considered to be good species. Here, we test for sperm precedence between two Drosophila pseudoobscura subspecies and between two Drosophila melanogaster races to evaluate how early in evolutionary divergence sperm precedence evolves. We found evidence of weak conspecific sperm precedence between the Drosophila subspecies but none between the Drosophila races. These pairs of taxa are already separated by mating discrimination and/or hybrid sterility, so our observation suggests that conspecific sperm precedence does not always evolve before other barriers to gene exchange.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Dixon, SM; Coyne, JA; Noor, MAF

Published Date

  • May 2003

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 12 / 5

Start / End Page

  • 1179 - 1184

PubMed ID

  • 12694281

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1365-294X

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0962-1083

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2003.01742.x

Language

  • eng