Meeting Abstract

P3.174  Monday, Jan. 6 15:30  Enhancing morphological studies of the bean beetle Callosobruchus maculatus with eigenshape analysis SALOMON, R.*; MUSOLF, B.; Clayton State University; Clayton State University rsalomon@student.clayton.edu

Host effects on organisms that utilize them for food, shelter, and/or reproduction can be used to study the adaptive and evolutionary consequences of host choice. The bean beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus, is an ideal organism for host shift experiments because of its fast generation time, survival on a variety of bean hosts, and measurable changes in morphology. Previous research and observations of beetle survivorship and physical traits on non-native bean hosts has shown that there are phenotypic consequences incurred by a shift to a new bean host. We predicted that there are measureable changes in emergence, eggs laid and egg distribution, and weight of C. maculatus after a host shift. We quantified the phenotypic and behavioral modifications in C. maculatus after a shift to Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), Mung (Vigna radiata), Adzuki (Vigna angularis), and Garbanzo (Cicer arietinum) beans. Additionally, we examined body shape modifications in host-shifted beetles using eigenshape analysis, focusing on the modifications of the beetle elytra and abdomen across populations. Using PAleontological STatistics (PAST) software, developed for evolutionary studies in paleontology by Hammer and Harper, we created a model shape for each beetle generation to elucidate modifications in shape among beetles reared on different hosts.