Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly

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.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Communications Biology
Published
2025-02-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07472-7
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Plant and animal studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
12.11

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly

Ryan I. Hill, Adriana D. Briscoe, Aline G. Rangel Olguin, Aide Macias-Muñoz et al.
4 citations
Communications Biology
Plant and animal studies
12.11
article

Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly

Ryan I. Hill, Adriana D. Briscoe, Aline G. Rangel Olguin, Aide Macias-Muñoz, Armando Luis‐Martínez, Sean P. Mullen, Andrew Dang, Gary D. Bernard, Jorge Enrique Llorente Bousquets, J. P. Lawrence, Furong Yuan
article en
4 citations

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.

Communications BiologyVol. 8(1)
Boston University (US), University of the Pacific (US), University of California, Santa Cruz (US), University of Washington (US), University of California, Irvine (US), UC Irvine Health (US), University of Houston (US), McGill University (CA), Michigan State University (US), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
National Science Foundation, Human Frontier Science Program
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Plant and animal studies
12.11
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.