yucca gigantea/oxidase

Three peroxisomal enzymes, glycolate oxidase, urate oxidase and catalase were localized cytochemically in Psychotria punctata (Rubiaceae) leaves and Yucca torreyi (Agavaceae) seedling root tips, both of which contain developing and mature calcium-oxalate raphide crystal idioblasts. Glycolate-oxidase

Plant-insect associations have served as models for investigations of coevolution and the influence of biotic interactions on diversification. The pollination association between yuccas and yucca moths is a classic example of an obligate mutualism often suggested to have been affected by

The pollination mutualism between yucca moths and yuccas highlights the potential importance of host plant specificity in insect diversification. Historically, one pollinator moth species, Tegeticula yuccasella, was believed to pollinate most yuccas. Recent phylogenetic studies have revealed that it

Parasitic taxa span an antagonistic continuum, with some parasites inflicting no fitness costs to some that kill the host after feeding. Host-associated differentiation is postulated as a major process facilitating speciation in many parasitic taxa. Here, I examined the importance of host-associated

Microbodies containing bipyramidal crystalline nucleoid inclusions occur within every cortical cell in roots of Yucca torreyi. Reaction product deposition attributable to catalase, glycolate oxidase, and urate oxidase activities are cytochemically localized to Yucca root microbodies and classifies

A wide range of evolutionary processes have been implicated in the diversification of yuccas and yucca moths, which exhibit ecological relationships that extend from obligate plant-pollinator mutualisms to commensalist herbivory. Prodoxus coloradensis (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae) is a yucca moth, which

The interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants have been central in generating diversification in both groups. We used a community of four yucca moth species, monophagous on the host plant Hesperoyucca whipplei (Agavaceae), to examine how the type of interaction and where insects