Aerial Predation and Butterfly Design: How Palatability, Mimicry, and the Need for Evasive Flight Constrain Mass Allocation

Marden, James H.; Chai, Peng

doi:10.1086/285202

Cited by 173 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Indeed, it is fairly high when compared with the scarcely available data for other palatable butterfly species (Marden and Chai, 1991). Still, a reduction in FMR from 0.5 to 0.3, as was the range in this study, markedly decreased flight speed in escaping butterflies by 37%, indicating that gaining weight may well conflict with escape ability.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 44%

“…For instance, Berwaerts et al (Berwaerts et al, 2002) reported higher flight capacity with high FMR in tethered Pararge aegeria. Moreover, interspecific studies of tropical butterflies indicate that palatable species, with generally high FMR, show faster flights and better manoeuvrability than unpalatable species with generally lower FMR (Marden and Chai, 1991;Srygley and Dudley, 1993;Pinheiro, 1996;Srygley and Kingsolver, 1998;Kingsolver and Srygley, 2000). However, when Srygley and Kingsolver subjected the palatable butterfly Anartia fatima to added weights amounting to 15% of body mass they did not reveal any relationship between FMR and flight speed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Aside from chemical defences and camouflage, adult butterflies rely on their flight ability to avoid predation (Chai and Srygley, 1991), and as for any winged prey animal, take-off ability, flight speed and manoeuvrability are likely to be crucial factors during a predator attack (Marden and Chai, 1991). Whereas chemical defence is a fairly well studied area (reviewed in Brower, 1984), little empirical data exist on evasive flight and its physiological, morphological and behavioural determinants (Berwaerts et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Along with wing and body morphology, and temperature (Tsuji et al, 1986;Marden and Chai, 1991;Stutt and Willmer, 1998;Van Dyck and Matthysen, 1998;Berwaerts and Van Dyck, 2004), flight muscle ratio [FMR: thorax mass/total body mass (Marden, 1987)] greatly influences butterfly flight performance (Wickman, 1992;Berwaerts et al, 2002). FMR correlates positively with flight speed and manoeuvrability, whereas an increased posterior weight load reduces FMR and changes the centre of body mass, compromising manoeuvrability and decreasing speed in forward flight Srygley and Dudley, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impaired escape flight ability in butterflies due to low flight muscle ratio prior to hibernation

Almbro

Kullberg

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYFor an animal to escape an attacking predator, speed and manoeuvrability are likely to be crucial factors. Previous studies on reptiles and birds have revealed that gaining weight, due to for instance egg load or lipid accumulation, leads to impaired escape ability and possibly increases the risk of being caught by predators. Here we tested whether the flight performance of an insect, the small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae), is affected by variations in body mass due to feeding by comparing flight performance parameters between individuals that (i) took flight spontaneously or after being subjected to a simulated predator attack and (ii) varied in flight muscle ratio (FMR: thorax mass/total body mass). The results show that butterflies that were subjected to a simulated predator attack flew at higher velocities and straighter than butterflies that were allowed to take off spontaneously. Furthermore, our study suggests, for the first time, that butterflies may experience impaired escape ability after feeding, which directly leads to a decrease in FMR; a reduction from 0.5 to 0.3 reduced escape flight velocity by about 37% at 0.5·m from the start. Finally, this study shows that FMR affects take-off angle and sinuosity, with steeper angles and more turning in butterflies with low FMR.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 44%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impaired escape flight ability in butterflies due to low flight muscle ratio prior to hibernation

Almbro

Kullberg

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Despite the importance of these phenomena in shaping the morphology, ecology and evolution of the species in question (e.g. Marden & Chai 1991;Emlen 2001), these traits that enhance the fitness returns derived from exaggerated secondary sexual characters have been largely neglected in intraspecific studies of sexual selection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic plasticity in the developmental integration of morphological trade-offs and secondary sexual trait compensation

Tomkins

Kotiaho

LeBas³

2005

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Trait exaggeration through sexual selection will take place alongside other changes in phenotype. Exaggerated morphology might be compensated by parallel changes in traits that support, enhance or facilitate exaggeration: 'secondary sexual trait compensation' (SSTC). Alternatively, exaggeration might be realized at the expense of other traits through morphological trade-offs. For the most part, SSTC has only been examined interspecifically. For these phenomena to be important intraspecifically, the sexual trait must be developmentally integrated with the compensatory or competing trait. We studied developmental integration in two species with different development: the holometabolous beetle Onthophagus taurus and the hemimetabolous earwig Forficula auricularia. Male-dimorphic variation in trait exaggeration was exploited to expose both trade-offs and SSTC. We found evidence for morphological trade-offs in O. taurus, but not F. auricularia, supporting the notion that trade-offs are more likely in closed developmental systems. However, we found these trade-offs were not limited solely to traits growing close together. Developmental integration of structures involved in SSTC were detected in both species. The developmental integration of SSTC was phenotypically plastic, such that the compensation for relatively larger sexual traits was greater in the exaggerated male morphs. Evidence of intraspecific SSTC demands studies of the selective, genetic and developmental architecture of phenotypic integration.

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Colour, fat and social status in male damselflies, Calopteryx maculata

Fitzstephens

Getty

2000

Animal Behaviour

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Aerial Predation and Butterfly Design: How Palatability, Mimicry, and the Need for Evasive Flight Constrain Mass Allocation

Cited by 173 publications

References 37 publications

Impaired escape flight ability in butterflies due to low flight muscle ratio prior to hibernation

Impaired escape flight ability in butterflies due to low flight muscle ratio prior to hibernation

Phenotypic plasticity in the developmental integration of morphological trade-offs and secondary sexual trait compensation

Colour, fat and social status in male damselflies, Calopteryx maculata

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