Wing melanin pattern mediates species recognition in Pieris occidentalis

doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80074-0

Animal Behaviour

Volume 43, Issue 1, January 1992, Pages 89-94

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80074-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

The western white butterfly, Pieris occidentalis Reakirt, and the checkered white butterfly, P. protodice Bosiduval & LeConte, are morphologically similar, closely related species that do not hybridize in nature despite little or no post-mating reproductive incompatibility. Field studies of interspecific mate choice indicate that female P. occidentalis significantly discriminate against courting P. protodice males relative to conspecific males. Artificially increasing wing melanization in male P. protodice so that they resemble males of P. occidentalis significantly increases their interspecific mating success. Female P. occidentalis appear to use the same male character, dorsal forewing melanin pattern, to discriminate between potential conspecific mates and between conspecific and heterospecific males.

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Cited by (55)

The Inductive Brain in Development and Evolution
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The worm has turned: Behavioural drivers of reproductive isolation between cryptic lineages
2016, Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Citation Excerpt :
Divergence in mate choice preferences can occur between populations that become geographically isolated (allopatric reproductive isolation), leading to the persistence of reproductive isolation following secondary contact between the populations (sympatric reproductive isolation). Examples of signals that have contributed to behavioural isolation involve visual signals observed in butterflies (Wiernasz and Kingsolver, 1992), damselflies (Saetre et al., 1997), fish (Seehausen and Van Alphen, 1998) and frogs (Maan and Cummings, 2008), acoustic signals observed in insects, frogs (Gerhardt and Huber, 2002) and bats (Barlew and Jones, 1997), and chemical signals observed in moths (Linn and Roelofs, 1995), spiders (Trabalon et al., 1997), and flies (Coyne et al., 1994). Variation in these signals between lineages can result in pre-mating reproductive isolation, providing a behavioural mechanism driving speciation (Smadja and Butlin, 2009).
Behavioural processes such as species recognition and mate attraction signals enforce and reinforce the reproductive isolation required for speciation. The earthworm Lumbricus rubellus in the UK is deeply differentiated into two major genetic lineages, ‘A’ and ‘B’. These are often sympatric at certain sites, but it is not known whether they are to some extent reproductively isolated. Behavioural tests were performed, in which individually genotyped worms were able to choose between soils previously worked either by genetically similar or dissimilar individuals (N = 45). We found that individuals (75%) were significantly (P < 0.05) more likely to orientate towards the soil conditioned by worms of their own lineage. Further testing involved a choice design based on filter papers wetted with water extracts of soils worked by a different genotype on each side (N = 18) or extracts from worked soil vs. un-worked control soil (N = 10). Again, earthworms orientated towards the extract from their kindred genotype (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that genotype-specific water-soluble chemicals are released by L. rubellus; furthermore, they are behaviour-modifying, and play a role in reproductive isolation between sympatric earthworm lineages of cryptic sibling species, through pre-copulatory assortative mate choice.
The (mis)concept of species recognition
2012, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Citation Excerpt :
Here, we outline five experimental conditions that should be met to identify signals that might contribute to behavioral isolation between species (Box 1). Some of the most well supported examples of signals that play a substantial role in behavioral isolation include pheromone composition in moths [42], spiders [43] and Drosophila [44], wing coloration in butterflies [45–48] and damselflies [25], nuptial coloration in fish [49,50] and frogs [51], and acoustic behaviors in insects and frogs [52]. As these signals become convincingly demonstrated across a range of taxa, universal characteristics or general principles can emerge, and the forces that drive their evolution can be tested.
To many, the concept of ‘species recognition’ is integral to the origin and maintenance of species. However, the heuristic value of species recognition is hampered by its reliance on the problematic concept of species. In this paper, we first discuss assumptions associated with prevailing use of the term, including the typological implications of the concept, the false dichotomy of compatibility and mate quality, and the commonly held model of species recognition in which animals determine taxonomic status before mate status. Subsequently, we propose research directions aimed to improve our understanding of the role of courtship behavior in speciation. We propose two complementary research approaches, one addressing the processes that drive the evolution of mate recognition systems and the other addressing the phenotypic architecture of behavioral isolation. Our approach emphasizes the fitness consequences and multidimensional nature of mate choice.
The Role of Coloration in Mate Choice and Sexual Interactions in Butterflies
2011, Advances in the Study of Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
As noted earlier, color-based visual signaling in butterflies has provided valuable insights into evolutionary phenomena such as speciation (Chamberlain et al., 2009; Mavarez et al., 2006), reinforcement (Kronforst et al., 2007), and aposematism and mimicry (Kapan, 2001; Kunte, 2009), to name a few. In sexual signal terms, we have long understood the wing patterns of males and sometimes females to function during courtship for the recognition of potential mates (Fordyce et al., 2002; Nielsen and Watt, 2000; Robertson and Monteiro, 2005; Rutowski, 1977; Silberglied and Taylor, 1978; Stride, 1957, 1958; Sweeney et al., 2003; Wiernasz and Kingsolver, 1992). Studies such as those in Colias (Papke et al., 2007, Rutowski 1985), Eurema (Kemp 2008b), and Hypolimnas (Kemp 2007) illustrate that female choice can also target the qualitative aspects of color signal expression, a finding which then opens the door for the examination of male-limited butterfly colors as potentially informative sexual signals.
A major focus of behavioral ecology is to understand the evolutionary causes and consequences of sexual signaling. Great strides have been made, particularly in the realm of color-based signaling, using model organisms in target groups such as birds and fish. Such work has demonstrated how information regarding phenotypic and/or genetic quality may be encoded in various types of color ornaments, which thereby offers an explanation to their adaptive value in mate assessment. However, until recently, attempts to examine such hypotheses have rarely used butterflies as subjects. This is surprising on several fronts. First, butterflies display an exceptional diversity of coloration, which is generated by a large breadth of color-production mechanisms and which provided part of the impetus for Darwin's ideas about sexual selection. Second, butterflies are well suited to behavioral, physiological, morphological, and genetic investigations, and features of their life history make them a novel venue for testing ideas about the potential information value of color signals.
In this chapter, we review how studies of butterflies have advanced the field of color signal evolution. Lepidopteran wing coloration has long (and sometimes famously) featured in studies of behavior, genetics, and evolution; our focus here is on efforts to understand the evolutionary ecology of highly exaggerated and male-limited wing markings. Behavioral experiments have revealed female mating preferences for male coloration that transcend simple species and/or mate recognition. These findings have, in turn, promoted butterflies as a system for testing and refining theories of mate-quality signaling, including models based on the signaling of genetic quality. Coupled with this, physicists have seized upon butterflies as a vehicle for understanding natural photonic structures, thereby unearthing an impressive array of color mechanisms (such as three-dimensional crystalline structures) and fuelling the further refinement of signaling hypotheses. We review this progress, showcasing work in the two Coliadine genera Colias and Eurema and focusing on the relevance of this work to our understanding of signaling system evolution.
Genome-wide phylogeography reveals cryptic speciation in the circumglobal planktonic calcifier Limacina bulimoides
2023, Molecular Ecology
Contrasting Size Distributions Among the Wing Spots of a Pierid Butterfly Suggest Different Selective Histories
2023, Zoological Science

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Animal Behaviour

Abstract

References (31)

Female choice selects for extreme tail length in a widowbird

Nature, Lond.

Selection pressures affecting male nutrient investment at mating in heliconiine butterflies

Evolution

Quantitative analysis of certain wing and genitalia characters of Pieris in western North America

J. Res. Lepid.

Conspecific mate recognition in swordtails, Xiphophorus nigrensis and X. pygmaeus (Poeciliidae): olfactory and visual cues

Anim. Behav.

Biology of pigmentation in Pieridae butterflies

Effects of sexual selection and life history on speciation: species flocks in African cichlids and Hawaiian Drosophila

Multiple mating and sperm competition in the Lepidoptera

The variability of species in the Lepidoptera with reference to abundance and sex

Trans. entomol. Soc. Lond.

Mate choice in Darwin's finches

Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

Mate choice based upon naturally occurring color-pattern variation in a guppy population

Evolution

Female mate preference and the evolution of female-limited mimicry

Evolution

Models of speciation by sexual selection on polygenic traits

Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Rapid origin of sexual isolation and character divergence in a cline

Evolution

Cited by (55)

The Inductive Brain in Development and Evolution

The worm has turned: Behavioural drivers of reproductive isolation between cryptic lineages

The (mis)concept of species recognition

The Role of Coloration in Mate Choice and Sexual Interactions in Butterflies

Genome-wide phylogeography reveals cryptic speciation in the circumglobal planktonic calcifier Limacina bulimoides

Contrasting Size Distributions Among the Wing Spots of a Pierid Butterfly Suggest Different Selective Histories