Ecdysteroids control eyespot size and wing color pattern in the polyphenic butterfly Bicyclus anynana (Lepidoptera: Satyridae)

Koch, P. B.; Brakefield, Paul M.; Kesbeke, Fanja

doi:10.1016/0022-1910(95)00103-4

Cited by 95 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Work on crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) has shown that thermoperiods can have dramatic effects on the timing of ecdysteroid peaks after adult eclosion and on the amounts of hormones produced (Hoffmann et al, 1981). Similar phenomena may occur in Bicyclus where we know that selected lines differing in development time show differences in ecdysteroid titres shortly after pupation (Koch et al, 1995).…”

Section: Feeding Activitysupporting

confidence: 68%

Matching field and laboratory environments: effects of neglecting daily temperature variation on insect reaction norms

Brakefield

Mazzotta

1995

J of Evolutionary Biology

103

100

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The tropical butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, exhibits seasonal polyphenism. The wet season form has large eyespots and a pale band while these characters are much less conspicuous or absent in the dry season form. This plasticity is induced in the laboratory by use of a standard series of constant temperatures in the larval stage yielding a continuous norm of reaction. Butterflies in this study were reared from hatchling larvae in seven regimes which differed with respect to thermoperiod or photoperiod.The effect of rearing treatment on the phenotypic plasticity of the adult wing pattern, on life history traits and on larval feeding rhythms was investigated. Photoperiod had little effect except that constant light produced a higher mortality and tended to produce a longer development time. Thermoperiod had a major effect on the life history traits in comparison to a constant temperature regime with the same daily mean: development time was shorter with higher growth rates. The faster development was associated with a substantial shift in the wing pattern towards the wet season form. Larvae feed mostly at night both under constant and thermoperiod (cool nights) conditions. The results are discussed with respect to the necessity of matching field and laboratory environments in studies of norms of reaction or of life history traits where the adaptive significance of the variation is important. Fluctuating conditions in nature, especially with respect to thermoperiod, must be taken into account. 560Brakefield and Mazzotta

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Section: Feeding Activitysupporting

confidence: 68%

Matching field and laboratory environments: effects of neglecting daily temperature variation on insect reaction norms

Brakefield

Mazzotta

1995

J of Evolutionary Biology

103

100

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“…Seasonal polyphenisms in color patterns come about through changes in the timing of ecdysone secretion (Rountree and Nijhout 1995;Brakefield et al 1998;Koch et al 1996;Koch and Bückmann 1987) and thus may fix the progression of pattern at different stages. On this view, seasonally polyphenic patterns can be thought of as an expression of plastic heterochrony.…”

Section: Modes Of Pattern Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Common Developmental Origin of Eyespots and Parafocal Elements and a New Model Mechanism for Color Pattern Formation

Nijhout

2017

Diversity and Evolution of Butterfly Wing Patterns

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The border ocelli and adjacent parafocal elements are among the most diverse and finely detailed features of butterfly wing patterns. The border ocelli can be circular, elliptical, and heart-shaped or can develop as dots, arcs, or short lines. Parafocal elements are typically shaped like smooth arcs but are also often "V," "W," and "M" shaped. The fusion of a border ocellus with its adjacent parafocal element is a common response to temperature shock and treatment with chemicals such as heparin and tungstate ions. Here I develop a new mathematical model for the formation of border ocelli and parafocal elements. The models are a reactiondiffusion model based on the well-established gradient-threshold mechanisms in embryonic development. The model uses a simple biochemical reaction sequence that is initiated at the wing veins and from there spreads across the field in the manner of a grass-fire. Unlike Turing-style models, this model is insensitive to the size of the field. Like real developmental systems, the model does not have a steady state, but the pattern is "read out" at a point in development, in response to an independent developmental signal such as a pulse of ecdysone secretion, which is known to regulate color pattern in butterflies. The grass-fire model reproduces the sequence of Distal-less expression that determines the position of eyespot foci and also shows how a border ocellus and its neighboring parafocal element can arise from such a single focus. The grass-fire model shows that the apparent fusion of ocellus and parafocal element is probably due to a premature termination of the normal process that separates the two and supports the hypothesis that the parafocal element is the distal band of the border symmetry system.

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“…Measurements of hormone titers in haemolymph taken at different developmental stages of each seasonal form demonstrate a later build-up of 20-hydroxyecdysone in pupae of the dry season form. Moreover, micro-injections or diffusion of ecdysone into young pupae that were reared as larvae at low temperature (and thus destined to be adults of the dry season form) induces development of larger marginal eyespots and a broader medial band as characterize the wet season form (Koch et al 1996;Brakefi eld et al 1998;Zijlstra et al 2004).…”

Section: The Role Of Genes and Hormones In Wing Patterningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental plasticity and acclimation both contribute to adaptive responses to alternating seasons of plenty and of stress in Bicyclus butterflies

2007

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Plasticity is a crucial component of the life cycle of invertebrates that live as active adults throughout wet and dry seasons in the tropics. Such plasticity is seen in the numerous species of Bicyclus butterfl ies in Africa which exhibit seasonal polyphenism with sequential generations of adults with one or other of two alternative phenotypes. These differ not only in wing pattern but in many other traits. This divergence across a broad complex of traits is associated with survival and reproduction either in a wet season that is favourable in terms of resources, or mainly in a dry season that is more stressful. This phenomenon has led us to examine the bases of the developmental plasticity in a model species, B. anynana, and also the evolution of key adult life history traits, including starvation resistance and longevity. We now understand something about the processes that generate variation in the phenotype, and also about the ecological context of responses to environmental stress. The responses clearly involve a mix of developmental plasticity as cued by different environments in pre-adult development, and the acclimation of life history traits in adults to their prevailing environment.

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Ecdysteroids control eyespot size and wing color pattern in the polyphenic butterfly Bicyclus anynana (Lepidoptera: Satyridae)

Cited by 95 publications

References 15 publications

Matching field and laboratory environments: effects of neglecting daily temperature variation on insect reaction norms

Matching field and laboratory environments: effects of neglecting daily temperature variation on insect reaction norms

The Common Developmental Origin of Eyespots and Parafocal Elements and a New Model Mechanism for Color Pattern Formation

Developmental plasticity and acclimation both contribute to adaptive responses to alternating seasons of plenty and of stress in Bicyclus butterflies

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