Does ecology shape geographical parthenogenesis? Evidence from the facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect Megacrania batesii

Closely related sexual and parthenogenetic species often show distinct distribution patterns, known as geographical parthenogenesis. These patterns, characterized by a mosaic of separate sexual and parthenogenetic populations across their natural range, can also be found in facultative parthenogens – species in which every female is capable of both sexual and parthenogenetic reproduction. The underlying mechanisms driving this phenomenon in nature remain unclear. Features of the habitat, such as differences in host plant phenotypes or niche breadth, could favour sexual or asexual reproductive modes and thus help to explain geographical parthenogenesis in natural insect populations. Megacrania batesii is a facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect that displays geographical parthenogenesis in the wild. We aimed to explore whether sexual and parthenogenetic populations of M. batesii displayed niche differentiation or variations in niche breadth that could explain the separation of the tw..., , , # Does ecology shape geographical parthenogenesis? Evidence from the facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect *Megacrania batesii*

Authors: Soleille M. Miller, Daniela Wilner, Jigmidmaa Boldbaatar, Russell Bonduriansky

Pre-print:

### Summary of project:

We collected morphological and chemical data for host plants of the facultatively parthenogenetic Australian phasmid Megacrania batesii. We first compared morphology and chemistry of host plants that were eaten and avoided by M. batesii and then looked at host plant differences between plants from sexual and parthenogenetic populations of M. batesii. Additionally we investigated whether all-female (asexual) populations of M. batesii were more likely to be found in more sparse habitats than their sexual counterparts.

#### R version:

R version 4.2.2 (2022-10-31 ucrt)

#### R packages used:

tidyverse (version 1.3.1): A collection of packages for data manipulation, exploration, and visualization in R.

ggbiplot (version 0.55): A pac...