Subspecific contact.

[Chris J. Durden]

At 07:37 PM 2/6/2001 -0500, you wrote:


>More from Ron.
>We are both correct. This is a great example of one of my favorite sayings.
>"The problem with communication is that people think it occurred."

Yes! ...........Chris


>What I meant was that two subspecies can not occur at the same time as
>place as permanent reproductive residents.

We hope they cannot because that would violate our theory. We must however 
describe what we see. My question is: is there an occasion in insects 
(animals with a very high egg to adult ratio and thus under incredible 
selective pressure) where we may have genetically determined 
multi-character varieties existing in sympatry and synchrony (but not 
syneocy) at such a high frequency that each variety can usefully be 
considered to be acting ecologically as a subspecies? I think I have seen 
this in Collembola, especially *Tomocerus (Maynardia)* spp. and in 
*Pseudosinella*. I suspect it occurs in *Speyeria* spp. and *Colias* spp. 
but I cannot demonstrate this yet.
.............Chris Durden

>On the edge of subspecific
>ranges interesting ebb and flow do occur as pointed out by Chris with the
>Viceroy. We often get Viceroys here with watsoni facies. However, they are
>hypothesized to be produced in a different way than the subspecies watsoni
>of the Gulf Coast. So while some look identical to watsoni they are not
>that subspecies.

Could they be a relict genetic investment of *watsoni* [not just one gene, 
but a useful cluster] in your local population, hanging on from the last 
interstadial or interglacial, lurking to reemerge when at a selective 
advantage under the next interstadial.


>Now, there are those who would even disagree about migratory overlap. For
>example, I know some who do not think P. sennae eubule should be considered
>subspecific because of genetic mixture due to migration.
>
>Ron

Have you ever compared the male genitalia of *P. eubule* with *P. sennae 
marcellina*. They sure look specifically different to me. Also check the 
range geometry of *P. sennae* on the Northern Plains Website. Looks like 
eastern "*sennae*" has a different ecological tolerance from western 
"*sennae*". Here in Central Texas we usually have *marcellina* sometimes 
only *eubule* and sometimes both.
..............Chris Durden




 
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