Supporting data of "Multiple origins of camouflage and selection-induced leaf colour divergence in an alpine fritillary"

Camouflage is a compelling topic in ecology and evolution as a colour-based defensive strategy. However, the processes of how camouflage evolved, particularly in plants, remain largely unexplored. In the Hengduan Mountain region, the alpine herb <i>Fritillaria delavayi</i> exhibits background-matching camouflage and displays divergent leaf colouration across populations. In this study, we combined phylogenetic analysis and colour quantification to investigate genetic and phenotypic variation within the species, and to study the evolution of leaf colour. Our results show that <i>F. delavayi</i> presents a typical sky-island genetic structure with significant population differentiation. Leaf colouration varies among populations, yet the phenotypic differences are not correlated with geographic, genetic or climatic variations. Furthermore, the camouflaged colouration observed in different lineages of <i>F. delavayi</i> has evolved multiple times from an ancestral green status. These findings suggest that the repeated evolution of camouflage and intraspecific colour divergence in <i>F. delavayi</i> is driven by selection after population colonization. Our study largely supports the hypothesis that human harvesting exerts significant selective pressure on the phenotypic evolution of <i>F. delavayi</i>.