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Chotard A, Ledamoisel J, Decamps T, Herrel A, Chaine AS, Llaurens V, Debat V. Evidence of attack deflection suggests adaptive evolution of wing tails in butterflies. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20220562. [PMID: 35611535 PMCID: PMC9130794 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Predation is a powerful selective force shaping many behavioural and morphological traits in prey species. The deflection of predator attacks from vital parts of the prey usually involves the coordinated evolution of prey body shape and colour. Here, we test the deflection effect of hindwing (HW) tails in the swallowtail butterfly Iphiclides podalirius. In this species, HWs display long tails associated with a conspicuous colour pattern. By surveying the wings within a wild population of I. podalirius, we observed that wing damage was much more frequent on the tails. We then used a standardized behavioural assay employing dummy butterflies with real I. podalirius wings to study the location of attacks by great tits Parus major. Wing tails and conspicuous coloration of the HWs were struck more often than the rest of the body by birds. Finally, we characterized the mechanical properties of fresh wings and found that the tail vein was more fragile than the others, suggesting facilitated escape ability of butterflies attacked at this location. Our results clearly support the deflective effect of HW tails and suggest that predation is an important selective driver of the evolution of wing tails and colour pattern in butterflies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariane Chotard
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB, UMR 7205), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, UA, Paris, France
| | - Joséphine Ledamoisel
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB, UMR 7205), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, UA, Paris, France
| | - Thierry Decamps
- Unité Mixte de Recherche Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (MECADEV, UMR 7179), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Anthony Herrel
- Unité Mixte de Recherche Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (MECADEV, UMR 7179), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Alexis S. Chaine
- Station d'Ecologie Theorique et Experimentale du CNRS (SETE, UAR 2029), Moulis, France
| | - Violaine Llaurens
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB, UMR 7205), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, UA, Paris, France
| | - Vincent Debat
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB, UMR 7205), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, UA, Paris, France
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Are good fighters also good singers? The relationship between acoustic traits and fight success in the treefrog Pithecopus nordestinus (Phyllomedusidae). Acta Ethol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10211-020-00337-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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What do we need to know to recognize a contest? Naturwissenschaften 2019; 106:32. [DOI: 10.1007/s00114-019-1632-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2018] [Revised: 05/27/2019] [Accepted: 06/01/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Rico-Guevara A, Hurme KJ. Intrasexually selected weapons. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 94:60-101. [PMID: 29924496 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2017] [Revised: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 05/18/2018] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
We propose a practical concept that distinguishes the particular kind of weaponry that has evolved to be used in combat between individuals of the same species and sex, which we term intrasexually selected weapons (ISWs). We present a treatise of ISWs in nature, aiming to understand their distinction and evolution from other secondary sex traits, including from 'sexually selected weapons', and from sexually dimorphic and monomorphic weaponry. We focus on the subset of secondary sex traits that are the result of same-sex combat, defined here as ISWs, provide not previously reported evolutionary patterns, and offer hypotheses to answer questions such as: why have only some species evolved weapons to fight for the opposite sex or breeding resources? We examined traits that seem to have evolved as ISWs in the entire animal phylogeny, restricting the classification of ISW to traits that are only present or enlarged in adults of one of the sexes, and are used as weapons during intrasexual fights. Because of the absence of behavioural data and, in many cases, lack of sexually discriminated series from juveniles to adults, we exclude the fossil record from this review. We merge morphological, ontogenetic, and behavioural information, and for the first time thoroughly review the tree of life to identify separate evolution of ISWs. We found that ISWs are only found in bilateral animals, appearing independently in nematodes, various groups of arthropods, and vertebrates. Our review sets a reference point to explore other taxa that we identify with potential ISWs for which behavioural or morphological studies are warranted. We establish that most ISWs come in pairs, are located in or near the head, are endo- or exoskeletal modifications, are overdeveloped structures compared with those found in females, are modified feeding structures and/or locomotor appendages, are most common in terrestrial taxa, are frequently used to guard females, territories, or both, and are also used in signalling displays to deter rivals and/or attract females. We also found that most taxa lack ISWs, that females of only a few species possess better-developed weapons than males, that the cases of independent evolution of ISWs are not evenly distributed across the phylogeny, and that animals possessing the most developed ISWs have non-hunting habits (e.g. herbivores) or are faunivores that prey on very small prey relative to their body size (e.g. insectivores). Bringing together perspectives from studies on a variety of taxa, we conceptualize that there are five ways in which a sexually dimorphic trait, apart from the primary sex traits, can be fixed: sexual selection, fecundity selection, parental role division, differential niche occupation between the sexes, and interference competition. We discuss these trends and the factors involved in the evolution of intrasexually selected weaponry in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Rico-Guevara
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720, U.S.A.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 N. Eagleville Rd, Unit 3043, Storrs, CT, 06269, U.S.A.,Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Código Postal 11001, Bogotá DC, Colombia
| | - Kristiina J Hurme
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720, U.S.A.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 N. Eagleville Rd, Unit 3043, Storrs, CT, 06269, U.S.A
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Le Roy C, Cornette R, Llaurens V, Debat V. Effects of natural wing damage on flight performance in Morpho butterflies: what can it tell us about wing shape evolution? J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.204057. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.204057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2019] [Accepted: 07/30/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Flying insects frequently experience wing damage during their life. Such irreversible alterations of wing shape affect flight performance and ultimately fitness. Insects have been shown to compensate for wing damage through various behavioural adjustments, but the importance of damage location over the wings has been scarcely studied. Using natural variation in wing damage, here we tested how the loss of different wing parts affect flight performance. We quantified flight performance in two species of large butterflies, Morpho helenor and M. achilles, caught in the wild, and displaying large variation in the extent and location of wing damage. We artificially generated more severe wing damage in our sample to contrast natural vs. higher magnitude of wing loss. Wing shape alteration across our sample was quantified using geometric morphometrics to test the effect of different damage distributions on flight performance. Our results show that impaired flight performance clearly depends on damage location over the wings, pointing out a relative importance of different wing parts for flight. Deteriorated forewings leading edge most crucially affected flight performance, specifically decreasing flight speed and proportion of gliding flight. In contrast, most frequent natural damage such as scattered wing margin had no detectable effect on flight behaviour. Damages located on the hindwings – although having a limited effect on flight – were associated with reduced flight height, suggesting that fore- and hindwings play different roles in butterfly flight. By contrasting harmless and deleterious consequences of various types of wing damage, our study points at different selective regimes acting on morphological variations of butterfly wings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Le Roy
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP50, 75005, Paris, France
- Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 12 rue de l’École de Médecine, 75006, Paris, France
| | - Raphaël Cornette
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP50, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Violaine Llaurens
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP50, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Vincent Debat
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP50, 75005, Paris, France
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Takeuchi T. Agonistic display or courtship behavior? A review of contests over mating opportunity in butterflies. J ETHOL 2016; 35:3-12. [PMID: 28127115 PMCID: PMC5215026 DOI: 10.1007/s10164-016-0487-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2016] [Accepted: 07/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Male butterflies compete over mating opportunities. Two types of contest behavior are reported. Males of various butterfly species compete over a mating territory via aerial interactions until one of the two contestants retreats. Males of other butterfly species fly around larval food plants to find receptive females. Males of some species among the latter type can find a conspecific pupa, and they gather around it without expelling their rivals. Scramble competition over mating occurs when a female emerges from the pupa. Many studies have been performed on territorial species, and their contest resolution has often been understood from the point of view of contest models based on game theory. However, these models cannot explain why these butterflies perform contest displays despite the fact that they do not have the ability to attack their opponent. A recent study based on Lloyd Morgan’s Canon showed that territorial contests of male butterflies are better understood as erroneous courtship between sexually active males. In this paper, I review research on contests over mating opportunity in butterflies, and show that the erroneous courtship framework can explain not only territorial contests of butterflies but also why males do not determine the owner of a conspecific pupa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tsuyoshi Takeuchi
- Entomological Laboratory, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Science, Osaka Prefecture University, Gakuencho1-1, Nakaku, Sakai, 5998531 Japan
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Takeuchi T, Yabuta S, Tsubaki Y. The erroneous courtship hypothesis: do insects really engage in aerial wars of attrition? Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tsuyoshi Takeuchi
- Center for Ecological Research; Kyoto University; Hirano 2-509-3 Otsu 5202113 Japan
- Entomological Laboratory; Graduate School of Life and Environmental Science; Osaka Prefecture University; Gakuencho1-1 Nakaku Sakai 5998531 Japan
| | - Shinji Yabuta
- Department of Animal Sciences; Teikyo University of Science & Technology; 2525 Yatsusawa Uenohara Yamanashi 4090193 Japan
| | - Yoshitaka Tsubaki
- Center for Ecological Research; Kyoto University; Hirano 2-509-3 Otsu 5202113 Japan
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