Parallel effects of the inversion In(3R)Payne on body size across the North American and Australian clines in Drosophila melanogaster

Chromosomal inversions are thought to play a major role in climatic adaptation. In D. melanogaster, the cosmopolitan inversion In(3R)Payne exhibits latitudinal clines on multiple continents. Since many fitness traits show similar clines, it is tempting to hypothesize that In(3R)P underlies observed clinal patterns for some of these traits. In support of this idea, previous work in Australian populations has demonstrated that In(3R)P affects body size but not development time or cold resistance. However, similar data from other clines of this inversion are largely lacking; finding parallel effects of In(3R)P across multiple clines would considerably strengthen the case for clinal selection. Here, we have analyzed the phenotypic effects of In(3R)P in populations originating from the endpoints of the latitudinal cline along the North American east coast. We measured development time, egg-to-adult survival, several size-related traits (femur and tibia length, wing area and shape), chill com...