Ultraviolet reflection and its behavioral role in the courtship of the sulfur butterflies Colias eurytheme and C. philodice (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)

Silberglied, Robert E.; TaylorJr., Orley R.

doi:10.1007/bf00296311

Cited by 174 publications

(157 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Indeed, past behavioural work on C. eurytheme attempted to manipulate the yellow-orange and UV colouration separately, treating them as distinct features of the appearance of male butterflies (Silberglied & Taylor 1978). However, our results suggest ways in which pigments enhance the colouration produced via structural mechanisms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Pterin pigments amplify iridescent ultraviolet signal in males of the orange sulphur butterfly,Colias eurytheme

et al. 2005

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Animal colouration is typically the product of nanostructures that reflect or scatter light and pigments that absorb it. The interplay between these colour-producing mechanisms may influence the efficacy and potential information content of colour signals, but this notion has received little empirical attention. Wing scales in the male orange sulphur butterfly (Colias eurytheme) possess ridges with lamellae that produce a brilliant iridescent ultraviolet (UV) reflectance via thin-film interference. Curiously, these same scales contain pterin pigments that strongly absorb wavelengths below 550 nm. Given that male UV reflectance functions as a sexual signal in C. eurytheme, it is paradoxical that pigments in the wing scales are highly UV absorbing. We present spectrophotometric analyses of the wings before and after pterin removal that show that pterins both depress the amplitude of UV iridescence and suppress a diffuse UV reflectance that emanates from the scales. This latter effect enhances the directionality and spectral purity of the iridescence, and increases the signal's chromaticity and potential signal content. Our findings also suggest that pterins amplify the contrast between iridescent UV reflectance and scale background colour as a male's wings move during flight.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Pterin pigments amplify iridescent ultraviolet signal in males of the orange sulphur butterfly,Colias eurytheme

et al. 2005

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“…However, documentation of color preferences in mate selection has been less commonly described (Silberglied and Taylor, 1978;Kemp and Rutowski, 2011;Sánchez-Guillén et al, 2013). Male buprestid beetles (Coleoptera) perform visually guided mating flights toward females (Gwynne and Rentz, 1983;Lelito et al, 2007Lelito et al, , 2011Domingue et al, 2014), making them promising candidates for the exploration of the mechanisms of color selection in beetles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in spectral selectivity between stages of visually-guided mating approaches in a buprestid beetle

Domingue

Lelito

Myrick

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Spectral mating preferences were examined in male Agrilus angustulus (Buprestidae: Coleoptera), a member of a taxon known for its high species diversity and striking metallic coloration. The spectral emission profile of a typical A. angustulus female displays low chroma, broadly overlapping that of the green oak leaves they feed and rest upon, while also including longer wavelengths. To pinpoint behaviorally significant spectral regions for A. angustulus males during mate selection, we observed their field approaches to females of five Agrilus planipennis color morphs that have greater chroma than the normal conspecific female targets. Agrilus angustulus males would initially fly equally frequently toward any of the three longest wavelength morphs (green, copper and red) whose spectral emission profiles all overlap that of typical A. angustulus females. However, they usually only completed approaches toward the two longest wavelength morphs, but not the green morphs. Thus, spectral preference influenced mate selection by A. angustulus males, and their discrimination of suitable targets became greater as these targets were approached. This increasing spectral discrimination when approaching targets may have evolved to allow female emissions to remain somewhat cryptic, while also being visible to conspecifics as distinct from the background vegetation and heterospecific competitors.

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“…This has been shown for many species: Heliconius erato (Linnaeus) (Crane, 1955), H. melpomene (Linnaeus), H. cydno Doubleday (Jiggins et al, 2001), Argynnis paphia (Linnaeus) (Magnus, 1958), P. protodice Boisduval & Leconte (Rutowski, 1981) and Eurema lisa (Boisduval & Leconte) (Rutowski, 1977). Females tend to sit quietly on a leaf with their wings closed and males identify potential mates by the colour of the underside of the female's wing in Pieris rapae (Linnaeus) (Obara, 1970), Colias eurytheme Boisduval (Silberglied & Taylor, 1978), Lycaeides idas (Linnaeus) (Fordyce et al, 2002) and Polyommatus icarus (Rottemburg) (Knüttel & Fiedler, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ability of males of two theclini species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) to discriminate between sexes and different types of females based on the colour of their wings

Imafuku¹,

Kitamura²

2015

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Abstract. Many territorial species of butterfly are sexually dimorphic in their wing colours, and males of such species frequently fight each other, probably attracted by the rival's wing colour. On the other hand, male behaviour should be directed to acquiring mates to increase their fitness, and thus should be sensitive to (usually cryptic) female wing colour. The present experiments aimed to determine whether the conspicuous male colour or cryptic female colour is more attractive to the territorial males of two lycaenid species, Chryso zephyrus smaragdinus and Neozephyrus japonicus. A pair of female and male wing models was presented simultaneously in the field to a male. The results indicate that the males of both species were preferentially attracted by the female wing model. In N. japonicus, in which the wing colour of females is polymorphic, males preferred particular types of female wings, in that they were more strongly attracted to the type-B model with a blue patch on the forewing than the type-O model, which lacked a blue patch.

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Ultraviolet reflection and its behavioral role in the courtship of the sulfur butterflies Colias eurytheme and C. philodice (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)

Cited by 174 publications

References 35 publications

Pterin pigments amplify iridescent ultraviolet signal in males of the orange sulphur butterfly,Colias eurytheme

Pterin pigments amplify iridescent ultraviolet signal in males of the orange sulphur butterfly,Colias eurytheme

Differences in spectral selectivity between stages of visually-guided mating approaches in a buprestid beetle

Ability of males of two theclini species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) to discriminate between sexes and different types of females based on the colour of their wings

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