Reproductive Isolation and Ecological Niche Partition among Larvae of the Morphologically Cryptic Sister Species Chironomus riparius and C. piger

摘要

BackgroundOne of the central issues in ecology is the question what allows sympatric occurrence of closely related species in the same general area? The non-biting midges Chironomus riparius and C. piger, interbreeding in the laboratory, have been shown to coexist frequently despite of their close relatedness, similar ecology and high morphological similarity.