Foto by Nélio Freitas

The study of asexual reproduction is a core issue in evolutionary biology. One reason is that, in spite of the two-fold cost of sex, asexual reproduction is uncommon among most animal taxa. Generally, asexual reproduction is relatively common on islands compared to the mainland, which seems to be in agreement with what is predicted by the patterns of geographical parthenogenesis.
One explanation for this may be that parthenoforms colonise insular environments more easily, since a single female is sufficient to establish a new population. However, detailed studies on the origin and colonization history of asexual taxa on islands have not been conducted.

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We recently made an unusual report of three unisexual taxa of Empoasca leafhoppers on the Madeira Islands. This presents a unique opportunity to study this topic since unisexual reproduction has never been reported in the 400 other species in the genus that are found on the mainland. This extraordinary finding may also be  interpreted as a natural variation of reproductive biology in insular populations or as a new case of infectious parthenogenesis induced by bacterial endosymbionts.



The objectives of this work are:​

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a) to determine species diversity of the genus Empoasca and sister genera in Macaronesia, the Iberian​

Peninsula and Northern Africa (Morocco); ​
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b) to determine the geographical distribution and abundance of parthenogenetic and sexual Empoasca species; ​
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c) to obtain living specimens for insect rearings, in order to accomplish other tasks: systematics, cytogenetics,​ phylogenetics, phylogeography and identification of infectious symbionts.