Butterfly wings: the evolution of development of colour patterns

Brakefield, Paul M.; French, Vernon

doi:10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(199905)21:5<391::aid-bies6>3.0.co;2-q

Cited by 102 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Therefore, the study of color and how animals use coloration is necessary to fully understand the natural history, ecology, and evolution of any organism (Fogden & Fogden 1974). Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) provide an ideal taxonomic group for integrative research on evolution and selective pressures in part because of the variation in coloration between and within species (Brakefield & French 1999). Diversity in the wing patterns and color of lepidopterans has inspired research for over 150 years (Nijhout 1991, McMillan et al 2002.…”

Section: Biological Significance Of Colorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of geographic differentiation in the forewing warning signal of the wood tiger moth in Alaska

Hegna

Mappes

2014

Evol Ecol

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Geographic Variation in the WarningSignals of the Wood Tiger Moth (Parasemia plantaginis; Arctiidae)Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston matemaattis-luonnontieteellisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston Ylistönrinteellä, salissa YAA303 marraskuun 8. päivänä 2013 kello 12.Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, Warning signals are not expected to be diverse because they are under stabilizing selection. This dissertation aims to study historic and contemporary selection mechanisms underlying the geographic warning signal diversity in the wood tiger moth (Parasemia plantaginis). In the first study, I explored the variation in hindwing warning color frequencies across the distribution of P. plantaginis and the phylogeography of the species. Males have polymorphic hindwing color (yellow or white) across much of their distribution but turn reddish in the Caucasus and mostly white in Japan, which coincide with mitogenetic divergence. Females vary continuously in hindwing warning color between yellow and red, becoming yellow east of the Ural mountain range, but does not correspond to mitogenetic divergence. Post-glacial isolation may be one contributing factor to the genetic divergence and the hindwing warning signal differences in the Caucasus region. In the second study, I found that thermoregulation benefits of melanin can trade-off with a larger more effective warning signal, which contributes to variation in melanization within Europe. In the third study, I found that forewing patterns function as warning signals and that generalization by predators might play an important role in warning signal diversity along with frequency dependent selection. In the fourth chapter, I found three populations in Japan differing in warning signal traits with some gene flow suggesting both selection and isolation may be underlying causes. Overall, my results suggest that historical and abiotic factors contribute to the observed warning signal diversity in P. plantaginis, rather than predation alone. This adds to our understanding of how historical factors along with environmental heterogeneity in biotic and abiotic factors can promote warning signal diversity. My results highlight the need to take an integrated approach to studying geographic diversity in warning signals.

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Section: Biological Significance Of Colorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of geographic differentiation in the forewing warning signal of the wood tiger moth in Alaska

Hegna

Mappes

2014

Evol Ecol

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“…They rather may through selection also be a result of an adaptation to local conditions (Bátori et al 2012b), such as food availability, climate and microhabitat selection. This phenomenon is not uncommon since high levels of phenotypic plasticity are important for a response that ensures the survival of a population exposed to unstable environmental factors (Shapiro 1976;Brakefield & French 1999). High species plasticity together with accommodation to local conditions can in practice result in description of many subspecies and morphological forms within M. athalia as well as within some other Melitaea species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wing pattern morphology of three closely related Melitaea (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) species reveals highly inaccurate external morphology-based species identification

Jugovic¹,

Koren²

2014

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Abstract. Wing morphology of the three closely related species of Melitaea -M. athalia (Rottemburg, 1775), M. aurelia (Nickerl, 1850) and M. britomartis Assmann, 1847 -co-occurring in the Balkans (SE Europe) was investigated in detail through visual inspection, morphometric analysis and multivariate statistical analysis. Results are compared to recent phylogenetic studies, searching for concordant patterns and discrepancies between the two approaches. The morphology of the genitalic structures is also compared with the results of the other two approaches. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) small albeit significant differences in wing morphology exist among the three species and (2) while the structure of male genitalia and phylogenetic position of the three species are concordant, they are (3) in discordance with the wing morphology. The present study represents another example where identification based on external morphology would lead to highly unreliable determinations, hence identification based on phylogenetic studies and/or genitalia is strongly recommended not only for the three studied species but also more broadly within the genus. Furthermore, we show that some of the characters generally used in the identification of these three Melitaea species should be avoided in future.

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“…Developmental regulation by gradients provides another example of where interactions may be additive. For example, the formation of wing coloration and eye-spots in butterflies depends on the concentrations of factors (including Distilless) around the foci that eventually form color or spots (Brakefield et al 1996;Brakefield and French 1999).…”

Section: A Two-trait Additive Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Interactions and the Constituents of Quantitative Variation

et al. 2001

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Abstract. Development is the process by which genotypes are transformed into phenotypes. Consequently, development determines the relationship between allelic and phenotypic variation in a population and, therefore, the patterns of quantitative genetic variation and covariation of traits. Understanding the developmental basis of quantitative traits may lead to insights into the origin and evolution of quantitative genetic variation, the evolutionary fate of populations, and, more generally, the relationship between development and evolution. Herein, we assume a hierarchical, modular structure of trait development and consider how epigenetic interactions among modules during ontogeny affect patterns of phenotypic and genetic variation. We explore two developmental models, one in which the epigenetic interactions between modules result in additive effects on character expression and a second model in which these epigenetic interactions produce nonadditive effects. Using a phenotype landscape approach, we show how changes in the developmental processes underlying phenotypic expression can alter the magnitude and pattern of quantitative genetic variation. Additive epigenetic effects influence genetic variances and covariances, but allow trait means to evolve independently of the genetic variances and covariances, so that phenotypic evolution can proceed without changing the genetic covariance structure that determines future evolutionary response. Nonadditive epigenetic effects, however, can lead to evolution of genetic variances and covariances as the mean phenotype evolves. Our model suggests that an understanding of multivariate evolution can be considerably enriched by knowledge of the mechanistic basis of character development. Adaptive evolution proceeds by selection acting on phenotypes, thereby altering the pattern of allelic variation in a population. The relationship between allelic and phenotypic variation is structured by ontogeny (Cheverud 1988;. Consequently, development plays a critical role in determining how allelic variation is translated into quantitative genetic variation and covariation (Rice 2000) and, thus, how allelic variation can contribute to the evolutionary change in a trait. Although researchers stressed a central role for development in evolution for several decades (e.g., de Beer 1940;Goldschmidt 1940;Schmalhausen 1949;Waddington 1957;Wright 1968;Gould 1977; Gilbert et al. 1996), the connection between particular developmental mechanisms and the process of microevolutionary change have been examined explicitly only relatively recently (Atchley 1984;Cheverud 1984;Riska 1986;Slatkin 1987;Wagner et al. 1997;Rice 1998Rice , 2000.Quantitative genetic models are the primary tools that have been used to understand how selection on phenotypes translates into the genetic changes that alter phenotype distributions across generations (e.g., Lande 1979). Fundamental to these quantitative genetic models is the partitioning of phe-2 Present address: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washingto...

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Butterfly wings: the evolution of development of colour patterns

Cited by 102 publications

References 68 publications

Influences of geographic differentiation in the forewing warning signal of the wood tiger moth in Alaska

Influences of geographic differentiation in the forewing warning signal of the wood tiger moth in Alaska

Wing pattern morphology of three closely related Melitaea (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) species reveals highly inaccurate external morphology-based species identification

Developmental Interactions and the Constituents of Quantitative Variation

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