RESUMEN
Evaluation of relative contribution of natural selection and stochastic processes to population differentiation has been of great interest in evolutionary biology. In a damselfly, Ischnura senegalensis, females show color dimorphism (gynochrome vs. androchrome), and color-morph frequencies are known to greatly vary among local populations within Okinawa Island, a small island of Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. In this study, to examine the effects of natural selection and stochastic processes on the within-island variation in color-morph frequencies, we compared the degree of population differentiation at the color-morph locus with that at a mitochondrial DNA region and ten nuclear microsatellite loci. F ST values at the neutral loci were close to zero, indicating presence of sufficient gene flow (dispersal of adult individuals) between the local populations. In contrast, F ST values at the color-morph locus were significantly different from zero. These results suggest that variation in female color-morph frequencies observed among local populations in Okinawa Island has been caused by divergent selection acting on the phenotype and/or genes tightly linked with the color locus.