Monday, December 10, 2007 - 8:05 AM
0253

Systematics and color mimicry evolution of the cyanide-producing millipedes of Appalachia

Paul Marek, pm0623@ecu.edu and Jason Bond, bondja@ecu.edu. East Carolina University, Biology Department, Howell Science Complex/N211, Greenville, NC

Individuals in the millipede genus Brachoria display extremely variable color patterns serving to warn predators of cyanide. Across its range members are often visually identical to other apheloriine species with sometimes five similarly patterned species at a locality, hypothetically representing Müllerian mimicry. Theoretical predictions suggest: (1) mimic species emulate the most abundant and/or most defended model; (2) overlap in the aposematic signal of the model and mimic is not attributable to relatedness; and (3) signal divergence across the mimic’s distribution is predicted by the model’s. To test hypothesis 2, we reconstructed apheloriine evolutionary history to determine the phylogenetic distance between co-mimics. Phylogenies recover deep divergence between co-mimics suggesting overlap is not a result of close ancestry, but of unique selection toward signal convergence at a locality. In addition to providing a framework to address taxonomy, the phylogeny provides a context for a phylogeographic study testing predictions 1, 3, and co-mimic abundances formulated by original theoretical models of mimicry.


Species 1: Polydesmida Xystodesmidae (millipedes)