Can ecological interactions drive evolutionary outcomes? Evidence from insect host shifts between parasitic and non-parasitic plants
Résumé
Phytophagous insects have specialized on virtually every plant lineage. Parasitic plants, however, are uncommon hosts. Among insects, only a single lineage of weevils, the Smicronychini, has successfully radiated on both parasitic and non-parasitic plants in a large panel of distantly related Asterid families. This unusual pattern suggests that major host plant shifts have occurred over the course of their diversification. Through the analysis of a phylogenomic dataset, we reconstruct for the first time their evolutionary history and ancestral host-plant repertoire. Our results show that independent host plant shifts occurred both from parasitic to non-parasitic hosts and between distinct parasitic lineages. These results suggest that host shift mechanisms can be driven by ecological opportunities provided by plant-plant interactions. This first evidence of extreme insect host plant shifts, apparently mediated by parasitic plant-plant interactions, emphasizes the core importance of ecological interactions as driving forces behind insect host plant shifts.
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Cite 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.8335270 Article Zelvelder, B., Kergoat, G. J., Benoit, L., Tsuchida, T., HARAN, J., & Allio, R. (2026). Supplementary material from ‘Can ecological interactions drive evolutionary outcomes? Evidence from insect host shifts between parasitic and non-parasitic plants’. The Royal Society. https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.C.8335270