OK. For all of you that would deny speciation (= macroevolution) is occuring all around us, all the time, check this out - from the current volume of "Science", a *somewhat* respected publication, even among non-scientists.
Assortative Mating in Sympatric Host Races of the European
Corn Borer
Thibaut Malausa,1,2* Marie-There`se Bethenod,3
Arnaud Bontemps,1,3 Denis Bourguet,2 Jean-Marie Cornuet,2
Sergine Ponsard1
ABSTRACT
Although a growing body of work supports the plausibility of sympatric speciation
in animals, the practical difficulties of directly quantifying reproductive
isolation between diverging taxa remain an obstacle to analyzing this process.
We used a combination of genetic and biogeochemical markers to produce a
direct field estimate of assortative mating in phytophagous insect populations.
We show that individuals of the same insect species, the European corn borer
Ostrinia nubilalis, that develop on different host plants can display almost absolute
reproductive isolationthe proportion of assortative mating was >95%even in the absence of temporal or spatial isolation.
Science 2005, v308: 258-260.
Let me spell this out for you.
As the insects feed on different plants, they seek mates only on those plants. This 'host plant fidelity' serves as a wedge to separate populations, preventing gene flow between them. Once you have no more gene flow between plant-associated populations, 'poof' you have separate species. It's almost as awe-inspiring as the 'poof' of creation in which all species were instanteously created in immutable forms....