Transient microgeographic clines during B chromosome invasion

The near-neutral model of B chromosome evolution predicts that the invasion of a new population should last some tens of generations, but the details on how it proceeds in real populations are mostly unknown. Trying to fill this gap, we analyze here a natural population of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans at three time points during the last 35 years. Our results show that B chromosome frequency increased significantly during this period, and that a cline observed in 1992 had disappeared in 2012 once B frequency reached an upper limit in all sites sampled. This indicates that, during B chromosome invasion, at microgeographic scale, transient clines for B frequency are formed at the invasion front. Computer simulation experiments showed that the pattern of change observed for genotypic frequencies is consistent with the existence of B chromosome drive through females and selection against individuals with high number of B chromosomes.

Complex latitudinal variation in the morphology of the kleptoparasitic spider Argyrodes kumadai associated with host use and climatic conditions

We examined complex geographical patterns in the morphology of a kleptoparasitic spider, Argyrodes kumadai, across its distributional range in Japan. To disentangle biotic and abiotic factors underlying morphological variation, latitudinal trends were investigated in two traits, body size and relative leg length, across separate transition zones for host use and voltinism. Statistical analyses revealed complex sawtooth clines. Adult body size dramatically changed at the transition zones for host use and voltinism, and exhibited a latitudinal decline following the converse to Bergmann’s cline under the same host use and voltinism in both sexes. A similar pattern was observed for relative leg length in females but not in males. A genetic basis for a part of observed differences in morphology was supported by a common-garden experiment. Our data suggest that local adaptation to factors other than season length such as resource availability (here associated with host use) obscures underlying responses to latitude.