@article {731836,
	title = {Host plant specialization driven by sexual selection},
	journal = {American Naturalist},
	volume = {169},
	number = {6},
	year = {2007},
	note = {<p>168WETimes Cited:4Cited References Count:39</p>},
	month = {Jun},
	pages = {830-836},
	abstract = {<p>We propose a new mechanism based on sexual selection to explain the evolution of diet breadth in insects. More specifically, we show that mate choice in females for certain diet-derived male pheromones can be exploited by maternal effect genes that preferentially place offspring on a specific host plant, resulting in specialization. Our analytical model also suggests that the process is more likely to occur with species that show male-congregating mating strategies, such as lekking and hilltopping. The model offers a new explanation for the similarity between the composition of male lepidopteran pheromones and the chemistry of their host plants and also suggests a novel mechanism of host plant shift. This is the first time that sexual selection has been proposed to drive host plant specialization and the first time that a mechanism with selection acting solely on the adult stage has been shown to be capable of determining larval feeding habits.</p>},
	keywords = {danaid butterflies, defense-mechanisms, diet breadth, enemy-free space, Evolution, female choice, host shift, lepidoptera, maternal effects, moth utetheisa-ornatrix, pheromone, phytophagous insects, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, specialization},
	isbn = {0003-0147},
	author = {Quental, T. B. and Patten, M. M. and Pierce, N. E.}
}
