Summary: 2156 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Evolution, 54(6), 2000, pp. 2156­2161
MOLECULAR EVIDENCE FOR SELECTION ON FEMALE COLOR POLYMORPHISM IN THE
DAMSELFLY ISCHNURA GRAELLSII
J. A. ANDRE´ S,1 R. A. SA´ NCHEZ-GUILLE´ N,2,3 AND A. CORDERO RIVERA2,4
1Animal Ecology, Ecology and Environmental Science, Umea° University, SE 90187, Umea°, Sweden
E-mail: jose.andres@eg.umu.se
2Departamento de Ecoloxi´a e Bioloxi´a Animal, Universidade de Vigo, E.U.E.T. Forestal,
Campus Universitario, 36005 Pontevedra, Spain
3E-mail: A. Cordero: acordero@uvigo.es
4E-mail: R. A. Sa´nchez: rguillen@uvigo.es
Abstract. The significance of female color polymorphism in Odonata remains controversial despite many field studies.
The importance of random factors (founder effects, genetic drift and migration) versus selective forces for the main-
tenance of this polymorphism is still discussed. In this study, we specifically test whether the female color polymorphism
of Ischnura graellsii (Odonata, Coenagrionidae) is under selection in the wild. We compared the degree of genetic
differentiation based on RAPD markers (assumed to be neutral) with the degree of differentiation based on color
alleles. Weir and Cockerham's values showed a significant degree of population differentiation for both sets of loci
(RAPD and color alleles) but the estimated degree of population differentiation ( ) was significantly greater for the
set of RAPD loci. This result shows that some sort of selection contributes to the maintenance of similar color morph
frequencies across the studied populations. Our results combined with those of previous field studies suggest that at

Source: Andrés, José - Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan

Collections: Biology and Medicine