Post‐zygotic hybrid viability in sympatric species pairs: a case study from European lampreys |
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Authors: | John B. Hume Colin E. Adams Barbara Mable Colin Bean |
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Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, , Glasgow, G12 8QQ UK;2. Scottish Natural Heritage, , Clydebank, G81 2NR UK |
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Abstract: | Ecological speciation mechanisms are widely assumed to play an important role in the early stages of divergence between incipient species, and this especially true of fishes. In the present study, we tested explicitly for post‐zygotic barriers to gene flow between a sympatric, recently diverged lamprey species pair that likely arose through ecological divergence. Experimental in vitro hybridization between anadromous parasitic Lampetra fluviatilis and resident nonparasitic Lampetra planeri resulted in a high proportion of embryos capable of attaining the burrowing pro‐larval stage, strongly indicating no post‐zygotic barriers to gene flow between these species. A sympatric, locally‐adapted resident parasitic form of L. fluviatilis was also found to successfully hybridize with both members of this species pair. The consequences of these findings are discussed in the context of lamprey speciation. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 108 , 378–383. |
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Keywords: | ecological speciation hybridization in vitro Lampetra |
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