bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/105494; this version posted February 3, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 Hybridization affects life-history traits and host specificity in Diorhabda spp. 2 3 Bitume, E.V., Bean, D. Stahlke, A.R., Hufbauer, R. A. 4 5 6 Addresses 7 1 Bioagricultural Science and Pest Management, Plant Sciences C129, Colorado State University, 8 Fort Collins, CO 9 2 Colorado Department of Agriculture, Palisade, CO 10 Statement of authorship: EB, DB, and RA designed the experiments, EB performed the 11 experiments and analysed the data. EB wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and DB, AS, and 12 RH contributed substantially to revisions. 13 Running title: Hybridization in Diorhabda 14 15 16 Corresponding author: 17 Ellyn Bitume 18 BSPM 19 Plant Sciences C129 20 Colorado State University 21 Fort Collins, CO 80523-1177 22
[email protected] 23 24 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/105494; this version posted February 3, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 25 Abstract 26 27 Hybridization is an influential evolutionary process that has been viewed alternatively as an 28 evolutionary dead-end or as an important creative evolutionary force. In colonizing species, such 29 as introduced biological control agents, hybridization can negate the effects of bottlenecks and 30 genetic drift through increasing genetic variation.