Adaptive colour change and background choice behaviour in peppered moth caterpillars is mediated by extraocular photoreception

Eacock, Amy; Rowland, Hannah M.; Hof, Arjen E Van’t; Yung, Carl J.; Edmonds, Nicola; Saccheri, Ilik J.

doi:10.1038/s42003-019-0502-7

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Color change resulting from changing pigment and/or structure occurs in some insects. In caterpillars of the peppered moth, the adjustment of body color to the background is guided by an opponent mechanism (34). In other Lepidoptera, pupal color is controlled by the light environment experienced as prepupa but is likely controlled by light intensity rather than color (54).…”

Section: Camouflage or Body Colorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Insect Color Vision: From Spectral Sensitivity to Visual Ecology

Kooi

Stavenga

Arikawa

et al. 2021

Annu. Rev. Entomol.

225

194

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Color vision is widespread among insects but varies among species, depending on the spectral sensitivities and interplay of the participating photoreceptors. The spectral sensitivity of a photoreceptor is principally determined by the absorption spectrum of the expressed visual pigment, but it can be modified by various optical and electrophysiological factors. For example, screening and filtering pigments, rhabdom waveguide properties, retinal structure, and neural processing all influence the perceived color signal. We review the diversity in compound eye structure, visual pigments, photoreceptor physiology, and visual ecology of insects. Based on an overview of the current information about the spectral sensitivities of insect photoreceptors, covering 221 species in 13 insect orders, we discuss the evolution of color vision and highlight present knowledge gaps and promising future research directions in the field. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology, Volume 66 is January 8, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Section: Camouflage or Body Colorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Insect Color Vision: From Spectral Sensitivity to Visual Ecology

Kooi

Stavenga

Arikawa

et al. 2021

Annu. Rev. Entomol.

225

194

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Immature lepidopterans can perceive visual, gravitational, and olfactory stimuli, all of which could be used by both feeding larvae and pre-pupae to orient themselves within their respective habitats. Caterpillars perceive light through stemmata (simple eyes) located on the head (Gilbert, 1994;Stehr, 2009b;Chapman, 2012), as well as extraocular photoreceptors located in the skin (Eacock et al, 2019). Color and light intensity can be used by larvae to locate a host plant (Kandori et al, 2015), or by prepupae to locate a pupation site (Wiklund, 1972;Roden et al, 1992;Veldtman et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive ontogenetic shifts in larval responses to environmental cues

Brackley

Lill

Weiss

2021

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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Although many organisms experience relatively predictable environmental conditions throughout development, others, as a result of ontogenetic changes, inhabit very different environments across life stages, requiring them to navigate into habitats or microhabitats that they have not previously encountered. For holometabolous insects, late instars must often locate a safe site before undergoing pupation. In Lepidoptera, many pre-pupae cease feeding and wander in search of an appropriate pupation site; their preferences display a shift in behavioral responses to habitat-specific environmental cues, relative to those of feeding larvae. Having previously determined that pre-pupae of Epargyreus clarus (Cramer) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) move from their Fabaceae host plant down into the leaf litter, where they construct a pupal refuge out of dried leaves and silk, we investigated the sensory cues used by E. clarus in selecting a pupation location. We further explored how responses to these cues vary between actively feeding larvae and non-feeding pre-pupae, both for individual insects and for stage-based cohorts. Using Y-tube assays, we determined that pre-pupae used visual (light) and gravitational cues to move from host plants into the leaf litter, whereas the odor cues we tested did not appear to influence their decision-making. Directional responses to both light and gravity reversed over ontogeny, allowing the two life stages to make use of the same cues to produce stage-appropriate adaptive behaviors.

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“…Matching habitat choice has received considerable research attention in the last decade and, although several tests have been conducted under controlled indoor conditions [32][33][34], examples of phenotype manipulation experiments are restricted to a couple studies on grasshoppers. For example, in a series of laboratory experiments using a mosaic of solar radiation, Karpestam et al [30] and Wennersten et al [31] showed that pale-painted and dark-painted grasshoppers tended to settle in the thermal zone offering the better fitness prospects given their susceptibility to radiation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence that matching habitat choice drives local adaptation in a wild population

et al. 2020

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Matching habitat choice is a unique, flexible form of habitat choice based on self-assessment of local performance. This mechanism is thought to play an important role in adaptation and population persistence in variable environments. Nevertheless, the operation of matching habitat choice in natural populations remains to be unequivocally demonstrated. We investigated the association between body colour and substrate use by ground-perching grasshoppers ( Sphingonotus azurescens ) in an urban mosaic of dark and pale pavements, and then performed a colour manipulation experiment to test for matching habitat choice based on camouflage through background matching. Naturally, dark and pale grasshoppers occurred mostly on pavements that provided matching backgrounds. Colour-manipulated individuals recapitulated this pattern, such that black-painted and white-painted grasshoppers recaptured after the treatment aggregated together on the dark asphalt and pale pavement, respectively. Our study demonstrates that grasshoppers adjust their movement patterns to choose the substrate that confers an apparent improvement in camouflage given their individual-specific colour. More generally, our study provides unique experimental evidence of matching habitat choice as a driver of phenotype–environment correlations in natural populations and, furthermore, suggests that performance-based habitat choice might act as a mechanism of adaptation to changing environments, including human-modified (urban) landscapes.

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Adaptive colour change and background choice behaviour in peppered moth caterpillars is mediated by extraocular photoreception

Cited by 33 publications

References 46 publications

Evolution of Insect Color Vision: From Spectral Sensitivity to Visual Ecology

Evolution of Insect Color Vision: From Spectral Sensitivity to Visual Ecology

Adaptive ontogenetic shifts in larval responses to environmental cues

Experimental evidence that matching habitat choice drives local adaptation in a wild population

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