![]() Behavioural changes in animals may ultimately be due to changes in the nervous system in the detection and processing of sensory stimuli from the environment. moth sex pheromones, cichlid coloration, frog and cricket songs) are often catalysts for rapid evolutionary change and speciation. Indeed, changes to specific neural pathways of any sensory modality may be a broad mechanism for changes in animal behaviour, catalysing the genesis of new biodiversity.Ĭhanges in behaviour affecting an animal's mate, food or habitat choice (i.e. ![]() Using a variety of techniques, we found a reversal between apple and hawthorn flies in the sensory processing of key odours associated with host fruit preference at the first olfactory synapse, linking changes in the antennal lobe of the brain with ongoing ecological divergence. These flies primarily use specific odours to locate fruit, and because they mate only on or near host fruit, changes in odour preference for apples versus hawthorns translate directly to prezygotic reproductive isolation, initiating speciation. The tephritid fruit fly Rhagoletis pomonella is an example of ecological specialization and speciation in action via a recent host plant shift from hawthorn to apple. However, the mechanistic basis for behavioural shifts is largely unknown. Changes in behaviour often drive rapid adaptive evolution and speciation.
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