Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly
Abstract Color vision is thought to play a key role in the evolution of animal coloration, while achromatic vision is rarely considered as a mechanism for species recognition. Here we test the hypothesis that brightness vision rather than color vision helps Adelpha fessonia butterflies identify pote...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07472-7 |
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| author | Andrew Dang Gary D. Bernard Furong Yuan Aide Macias-Muñoz Ryan I. Hill J. P. Lawrence Aline Giselle Rangel Olguin Armando Luis-Martínez Sean P. Mullen Jorge Llorente-Bousquets Adriana D. Briscoe |
| author_facet | Andrew Dang Gary D. Bernard Furong Yuan Aide Macias-Muñoz Ryan I. Hill J. P. Lawrence Aline Giselle Rangel Olguin Armando Luis-Martínez Sean P. Mullen Jorge Llorente-Bousquets Adriana D. Briscoe |
| author_sort | Andrew Dang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Color vision is thought to play a key role in the evolution of animal coloration, while achromatic vision is rarely considered as a mechanism for species recognition. Here we test the hypothesis that brightness vision rather than color vision helps Adelpha fessonia butterflies identify potential mates while their co-mimetic wing coloration is indiscriminable to avian predators. We examine the trichromatic visual system of A. fessonia and characterize its photoreceptors using RNA-seq, eyeshine, epi-microspectrophotometry, and optophysiology. We model the discriminability of its wing color patches in relation to those of its co-mimic, A. basiloides, through A. fessonia and avian eyes. Visual modeling suggests that neither A. fessonia nor avian predators can readily distinguish the co-mimics’ coloration using chromatic or achromatic vision under natural conditions. These results suggest that mimetic colors are well-matched to visual systems to maintain mimicry, and that mate avoidance between these two look-alike species relies on other cues. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3f70611656b54c479085e02e72735ec0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-3f70611656b54c479085e02e72735ec02025-02-09T12:50:42ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422025-02-018111410.1038/s42003-025-07472-7Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterflyAndrew Dang0Gary D. Bernard1Furong Yuan2Aide Macias-Muñoz3Ryan I. Hill4J. P. Lawrence5Aline Giselle Rangel Olguin6Armando Luis-Martínez7Sean P. Mullen8Jorge Llorente-Bousquets9Adriana D. Briscoe10Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC IrvineDepartment of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of WashingtonDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC IrvineDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC IrvineDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of the PacificDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC IrvineDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC IrvineMuseo de Zoología, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoDepartment of Biology, Boston UniversityMuseo de Zoología, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC IrvineAbstract Color vision is thought to play a key role in the evolution of animal coloration, while achromatic vision is rarely considered as a mechanism for species recognition. Here we test the hypothesis that brightness vision rather than color vision helps Adelpha fessonia butterflies identify potential mates while their co-mimetic wing coloration is indiscriminable to avian predators. We examine the trichromatic visual system of A. fessonia and characterize its photoreceptors using RNA-seq, eyeshine, epi-microspectrophotometry, and optophysiology. We model the discriminability of its wing color patches in relation to those of its co-mimic, A. basiloides, through A. fessonia and avian eyes. Visual modeling suggests that neither A. fessonia nor avian predators can readily distinguish the co-mimics’ coloration using chromatic or achromatic vision under natural conditions. These results suggest that mimetic colors are well-matched to visual systems to maintain mimicry, and that mate avoidance between these two look-alike species relies on other cues.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07472-7 |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Dang Gary D. Bernard Furong Yuan Aide Macias-Muñoz Ryan I. Hill J. P. Lawrence Aline Giselle Rangel Olguin Armando Luis-Martínez Sean P. Mullen Jorge Llorente-Bousquets Adriana D. Briscoe Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly Communications Biology |
| title | Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly |
| title_full | Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly |
| title_fullStr | Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly |
| title_short | Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly |
| title_sort | trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07472-7 |
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