In north america, hawthorn trees were the ancestral hosts of the apple maggot fly ( rhagoletis pomonella). in the last 150 years, however, cultivated apples have become a host for some populations of r. pomonella. what factor may have allowed the colonization of apples as a new host plant, and thus subsequent disruptive selection based on resource use? group of answer choices apple trees and hawthorns are sister species and thus produce fruit with similar characteristics. in the southeast, a blight killed hawthorn populations, and small populations of flies were able to adapt to apple use. the timing of reproduction in mexican hawthorn feeding populations overlaps with apple fruiting in the northeast. apples and hawthorns are commonly cultivated together in new england. intense pesticide use in some hawthorn-producing regions forced the flies to seek new hosts.