ROLE OF NATURAL AND SEXUAL SELECTION IN THE EVOLUTION OF BUTTERFLY WING COLOURS

Abstract

BUTTERFLY WING COLOURS ARE USED FOR BOTH PREDATION AVOIDANCE AND SEXUAL SIGNALING. HERE, I EXAMINED HOW NATURAL AND SEXUAL SELECTION INFLUENCED THE EVOLUTION OF BATESIAN MIMICRY AND SEXUAL DICHROMATISM IN BUTTERFLIES. THROUGH VISUAL MODELLING, I SHOWED THAT MIMETIC RESEMBLANCE IN BUTTERFLY MIMICRY RINGS VARIED IN A SEX- AND WING SURFACE-SPECIFIC MANNER. FURTHERMORE, I FOUND THAT MIMETIC SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLIES EXHIBITED ADAPTIVE WING COLOUR CHANGES NOT APPARENT TO HUMANS, WHILE SEXUALLY MONOMORPHIC BUTTERFLIES DISPLAYED SEXUAL COLOUR DIFFERENCES DETECTABLE TO CONSPECIFICS AND PREDATORS. NEXT, I CONDUCTED BEHAVIOURAL EXPERIMENTS ON TWO SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY SPECIES TO INVESTIGATE THE ROLE OF MATE CHOICE IN THE EVOLUTION OF SEXUAL DICHROMATISM AND FEMALE-LIMITED MIMETIC POLYMORPHISM. I DEMONSTRATED THAT MALE WING COLOUR MANIPULATION DID NOT AFFECT FEMALE MATE PREFERENCE, WHEREAS MALES PREFERRED TO MATE WITH MIMETIC FEMALES. MY FINDINGS INDICATED THAT BUTTERFLY WING COLOURS EVOLVE UNDER B