open access

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/66287

Co-occurrence of ecologically equivalent cryptic species of spider wasps

英語

sympatric species

2016-08-24

Royal Society Publishing

Royal Society Open Science

3(8)

160119

Electronic supplementary material is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160119 or via http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org.

Many cryptic species have been discovered in various taxonomic groups based on molecular phylogenetic analyses and mating experiments. Some sympatric cryptic species share equivalent resources, which contradicts the competitive exclusion principle. Two major theories have been proposed to explain the apparent lack of competitive exclusion, i.e. niche-based coexistence and neutral model, but a conclusive explanation is lacking. Here, we report the co-occurrence of cryptic spider wasp species appearing to be ecologically equivalent. Molecular phylogenetic analyses and mating experiments revealed that three phylogenetically closely related species are found sympatrically in Japan. These species share the same resources for larval food, and two of the species have the same niche for nesting sites, indicating a lack of competitive exclusion. This evidence may suggest that ecologically equivalent species can co-occur stably if their shared resources are sufficiently abundant that they cannot be over-exploited.

学術雑誌論文

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

2054-5703