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Fiedler K, Brehm G. Aposematic Coloration of Moths Decreases Strongly along an Elevational Gradient in the Andes. INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12100903. [PMID: 34680672 PMCID: PMC8538793 DOI: 10.3390/insects12100903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 09/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary Certain moths defend themselves with toxic substances, and they show this to predators with bright and contrasting coloration. At high elevations, fewer birds, bats and other predators are present that feed on these insects. We therefore expected a decreasing proportion of colorful tiger and lichen moths with increasing elevation. Our study was carried out in forests between 1040 and 2670 m in the Ecuadorian Andes. We scored all 353 observed species according to their warning coloration, and whether they mimic bees and wasps or potentially poisonous beetles. We also measured forewing length of all species. From these data community-weighted means were calculated and related to the elevation of their collection sites. As predicted, the communitywide incidence of all three defensive traits decreased substantially from tall premontane forest to open upper montane forest. In parallel, moth size increased with elevation. Moreover, the systematic composition of tiger and lichen moth assemblages changed substantially. These findings support the idea that different selection regimes favor warning coloration at lower sites with higher predation pressure, while cryptic appearance is more advantageous at higher elevations. Abstract On tropical mountains, predation pressure decreases with elevation. Accordingly, one expects an elevational decay in the prevalence of costly defensive traits such as aposematic coloration. Using light-trap catches of Arctiinae moths (353 species, 4466 individuals), assembled along a forested gradient in the megadiverse tropical Andes of southern Ecuador, we show that the incidence of aposematic coloration decreases strongly between 1040 and 2670 m asl. While over 60% of Arctiinae moths were warningly colored at lowest sites, this fraction decreased to less than 20% in montane forest, yet increased slightly again at the highest sites in the very open Purdiaea nutans forest. In parallel, the incidence of hymenopteran mimics and of species that mimic chemically defended beetles decreased with elevation. Hymenopteran mimics accounted for less than 5% of Arctiinae moths at sites above 2100 m, and beetle mimics were essentially lacking at high elevations. These patterns coincide with a change in gross taxonomic composition of Arctiinae ensembles and with an increase in average body size towards higher elevations. Representatives of Euchromiina and Ctenuchina became scarce with altitude, whereas the prevalence of Lithosiinae increased. Our findings suggest that the variable selective pressures along the elevational gradient favor warning coloration primarily at lower sites, whereas cryptic appearance of adult moths dominates in the tropical upper montane forest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konrad Fiedler
- Department of Botany & Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- Correspondence:
| | - Gunnar Brehm
- Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung mit Phyletischem Museum, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany;
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Rabl D, Alonso-Rodríguez AM, Brehm G, Fiedler K. Trait Variation in Moths Mirrors Small-Scaled Ecological Gradients in A Tropical Forest Landscape. INSECTS 2020; 11:insects11090612. [PMID: 32911785 PMCID: PMC7563231 DOI: 10.3390/insects11090612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary Tropical rainforests are still lost at alarming rates due to timber extraction or conversion into plantations. While losses of species diversity are well documented, less is known about how the functional integrity of insect communities changes with such interventions. Using light-trap samples taken from species-rich moth assemblages in one region in SW Costa Rica, we asked whether the body size of moths and the contribution of warningly colored species change from old-growth forest across disturbed forest toward oil palm plantations. Across three topographic types of old-growth forest, differences were small. Moth species occurring in plantations were substantially smaller than their relatives thriving in natural forest. Similarly, the incidence of warning coloration dropped massively in plantations. Two different types of mimicry (moths imitating wasps or poisonous beetles, respectively) showed their own patterns of variation across ecosystems, yet both color types were very rare in plantations. These results confirm that not only insect species diversity becomes greatly diminished when tropical forests are destroyed: the functional composition and integrity of the insect fauna that remains in plantations is eroding as well. Abstract Along environmental gradients, communities are expected to be filtered from the regional species pool by physical constraints, resource availability, and biotic interactions. This should be reflected in species trait composition. Using data on species-rich moth assemblages sampled by light traps in a lowland rainforest landscape in Costa Rica, we show that moths in two unrelated clades (Erebidae-Arctiinae; Geometridae) are much smaller-sized in oil palm plantations than in nearby old-growth forest, with intermediate values at disturbed forest sites. In old-growth forest, Arctiinae predominantly show aposematic coloration as a means of anti-predator defense, whereas this trait is much reduced in the prevalence in plantations. Similarly, participation in Müllerian mimicry rings with Hymenoptera and Lycidae beetles, respectively, is rare in plantations. Across three topographic types of old-growth forests, community-weighted means of moth traits showed little variation, but in creek forest, both types of mimicry were surprisingly rare. Our results emphasize that despite their mobility, moth assemblages are strongly shaped by local environmental conditions through the interplay of bottom–up and top–down processes. Assemblages in oil palm plantations are highly degraded not only in their biodiversity, but also in terms of trait expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominik Rabl
- Department of Botany & Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, A-1030 Vienna, Austria;
- Department of Field Station Fabrikschleichach, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, D-96181 Rauhenebrach, Germany
| | - Aura M. Alonso-Rodríguez
- The Gund Institute for Environment & Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA;
| | - Gunnar Brehm
- Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, Phyletisches Museum, D-07743 Jena, Germany;
| | - Konrad Fiedler
- Department of Botany & Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, A-1030 Vienna, Austria;
- Correspondence:
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Boppré M, Vane-Wright RI, Wickler W. A hypothesis to explain accuracy of wasp resemblances. Ecol Evol 2016; 7:73-81. [PMID: 28070276 PMCID: PMC5214283 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2016] [Revised: 09/13/2016] [Accepted: 10/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Mimicry is one of the oldest concepts in biology, but it still presents many puzzles and continues to be widely debated. Simulation of wasps with a yellow‐black abdominal pattern by other insects (commonly called “wasp mimicry”) is traditionally considered a case of resemblance of unprofitable by profitable prey causing educated predators to avoid models and mimics to the advantage of both (Figure 1a). However, as wasps themselves are predators of insects, wasp mimicry can also be seen as a case of resemblance to one's own potential antagonist. We here propose an additional hypothesis to Batesian and Müllerian mimicry (both typically involving selection by learning vertebrate predators; cf. Table 1) that reflects another possible scenario for the evolution of multifold and in particular very accurate resemblances to wasps: an innate, visual inhibition of aggression among look‐alike wasps, based on their social organization and high abundance. We argue that wasp species resembling each other need not only be Müllerian mutualists and that other insects resembling wasps need not only be Batesian mimics, but an innate ability of wasps to recognize each other during hunting is the driver in the evolution of a distinct kind of masquerade, in which model, mimic, and selecting agent belong to one or several species (Figure 1b). Wasp mimics resemble wasps not (only) to be mistaken by educated predators but rather, or in addition, to escape attack from their wasp models. Within a given ecosystem, there will be selection pressures leading to masquerade driven by wasps and/or to mimicry driven by other predators that have to learn to avoid them. Different pressures by guilds of these two types of selective agents could explain the widely differing fidelity with respect to the models in assemblages of yellow jackets and yellow jacket look‐alikes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Boppré
- Forstzoologie und Entomologie Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Germany
| | - Richard I Vane-Wright
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE)University of Kent Canterbury UK; Life Sciences Natural History Museum London UK
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Halpin CG, Rowe C. The effect of distastefulness and conspicuous coloration on the post-attack rejection behaviour of predators and survival of prey. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christina G. Halpin
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution; Newcastle University; Newcastle upon Tyne UK
| | - Candy Rowe
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution; Newcastle University; Newcastle upon Tyne UK
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Zaspel JM, Weller SJ, Wardwell CT, Zahiri R, Wahlberg N. Phylogeny and evolution of pharmacophagy in tiger moths (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae). PLoS One 2014; 9:e101975. [PMID: 25036028 PMCID: PMC4103773 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2013] [Accepted: 06/12/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The focus of this study was to reconstruct a phylogenetic hypothesis for the moth subfamily Arctiinae (tiger moths, woolly bears) to investigate the evolution of larval and adult pharmacophagy of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and the pathway to PA chemical specialization in Arctiinae. Pharmacophagy, collection of chemicals for non-nutritive purposes, is well documented in many species, including the model species Utetheisa ornatrix L. A total of 86 exemplar ingroup species representing tiger moth tribes and subtribes (68 genera) and nine outgroup species were selected. Ingroup species included the most species-rich generic groups to represent the diversity of host-plant associations and pharmacophagous behaviors found throughout Arctiinae. Up to nine genetic markers were sequenced: one mitochondrial (COI barcode region), one nuclear rRNA (D2 region, 28S rRNA), and seven nuclear protein-coding gene fragments: elongation factor 1-α protein, wingless, ribosomal protein subunit S5, carbamoylphosphate synthase domain regions, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase and cytosolic malate dehydrogenase. A total of 6984 bp was obtained for most species. These data were analyzed using model-based phylogenetic methods: maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI). Ancestral pharmacophagous behaviors and obligate PA associations were reconstructed using the resulting Bayes topology and Reconstructing Ancestral States in Phylogenies (RASP) software. Our results corroborate earlier studies on the evolution of adult pharmacophagous behaviors, suggesting that this behavior arose multiple times and is concentrated in the phaegopterine-euchromiine-ctenuchine clade (PEC). Our results suggest that PA specialization may have arisen early in the phylogeny of the subfamily and that facultative larval pharmacophagous behaviors are the derived condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer M. Zaspel
- Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Susan J. Weller
- Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
- Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Charles T. Wardwell
- Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Reza Zahiri
- Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Niklas Wahlberg
- Laboratory of Genetics, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
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Ihalainen E, Rowland HM, Speed MP, Ruxton GD, Mappes J. Prey community structure affects how predators select for Mullerian mimicry. Proc Biol Sci 2012; 279:2099-105. [PMID: 22237908 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.2360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Müllerian mimicry describes the close resemblance between aposematic prey species; it is thought to be beneficial because sharing a warning signal decreases the mortality caused by sampling by inexperienced predators learning to avoid the signal. It has been hypothesized that selection for mimicry is strongest in multi-species prey communities where predators are more prone to misidentify the prey than in simple communities. In this study, wild great tits (Parus major) foraged from either simple (few prey appearances) or complex (several prey appearances) artificial prey communities where a specific model prey was always present. Owing to slower learning, the model did suffer higher mortality in complex communities when the birds were inexperienced. However, in a subsequent generalization test to potential mimics of the model prey (a continuum of signal accuracy), only birds that had foraged from simple communities selected against inaccurate mimics. Therefore, accurate mimicry is more likely to evolve in simple communities even though predator avoidance learning is slower in complex communities. For mimicry to evolve, prey species must have a common predator; the effective community consists of the predator's diet. In diverse environments, the limited diets of specialist predators could create 'simple community pockets' where accurate mimicry is selected for.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eira Ihalainen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Centre of Excellence in Evolutionary Research, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
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Maraun M, Erdmann G, Schulz G, Norton RA, Scheu S, Domes K. Multiple convergent evolution of arboreal life in oribatid mites indicates the primacy of ecology. Proc Biol Sci 2009; 276:3219-27. [PMID: 19535377 PMCID: PMC2817162 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2009] [Accepted: 05/27/2009] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Frequent convergent evolution in phylogenetically unrelated taxa points to the importance of ecological factors during evolution, whereas convergent evolution in closely related taxa indicates the importance of favourable pre-existing characters (pre-adaptations). We investigated the transitions to arboreal life in oribatid mites (Oribatida, Acari), a group of mostly soil-living arthropods. We evaluated which general force-ecological factors, historical constraints or chance-was dominant in the evolution of arboreal life in oribatid mites. A phylogenetic study of 51 oribatid mite species and four outgroup taxa, using the ribosomal 18S rDNA region, indicates that arboreal life evolved at least 15 times independently. Arboreal oribatid mite species are not randomly distributed in the phylogenetic tree, but are concentrated among strongly sclerotized, sexual and evolutionary younger taxa. They convergently evolved a capitate sensillus, an anemoreceptor that either precludes overstimulation in the exposed bark habitat or functions as a gravity receptor. Sexual reproduction and strong sclerotization were important pre-adaptations for colonizing the bark of trees that facilitated the exploitation of living resources (e.g. lichens) and served as predator defence, respectively. Overall, our results indicate that ecological factors are most important for the observed pattern of convergent evolution of arboreal life in oribatid mites, supporting an adaptationist view of evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Maraun
- Universität Göttingen, Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.
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Miller JS. Generic Revision of the Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae) Part 1: Dioptini. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2009. [DOI: 10.1206/321.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Miller JS. Generic Revision of the Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae) Part 2: Josiini. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2009. [DOI: 10.1206/321.1-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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The evolution of Müllerian mimicry. Naturwissenschaften 2008; 95:681-95. [PMID: 18542902 PMCID: PMC2443389 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-008-0403-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2008] [Revised: 04/26/2008] [Accepted: 04/29/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
It is now 130 years since Fritz Müller proposed an evolutionary explanation for the close similarity of co-existing unpalatable prey species, a phenomenon now known as Müllerian mimicry. Müller’s hypothesis was that unpalatable species evolve a similar appearance to reduce the mortality involved in training predators to avoid them, and he backed up his arguments with a mathematical model in which predators attack a fixed number (n) of each distinct unpalatable type in a given season before avoiding them. Here, I review what has since been discovered about Müllerian mimicry and consider in particular its relationship to other forms of mimicry. Müller’s specific model of associative learning involving a “fixed n” in a given season has not been supported, and several experiments now suggest that two distinct unpalatable prey types may be just as easy to learn to avoid as one. Nevertheless, Müller’s general insight that novel unpalatable forms have higher mortality than common unpalatable forms as a result of predation has been well supported by field experiments. From its inception, there has been a heated debate over the nature of the relationship between Müllerian co-mimics that differ in their level of defence. There is now a growing awareness that this relationship can be mediated by many factors, including synergistic effects between co-mimics that differ in their mode of defence, rates of generalisation among warning signals and concomitant changes in prey density as mimicry evolves. I highlight areas for future enquiry, including the possibility of Müllerian mimicry systems based on profitability rather than unprofitability and the co-evolution of defence.
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Ceccarelli FS, Crozier RH. Dynamics of the evolution of Batesian mimicry: molecular phylogenetic analysis of ant-mimicking Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae) species and their ant models. J Evol Biol 2007; 20:286-95. [PMID: 17210021 DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01199.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Batesian mimicry is seen as an example of evolution by natural selection, with predation as the main driving force. The mimic is under selective pressure to resemble its model, whereas it is disadvantageous for the model to be associated with the palatable mimic. In consequence one might expect there to be an evolutionary arms race, similar to the one involving host-parasite coevolution. In this study, the evolutionary dynamics of a Batesian mimicry system of model ants and ant-mimicking salticids is investigated by comparing the phylogenies of the two groups. Although Batesian mimics are expected to coevolve with their models, we found the phylogenetic patterns of the models and the mimics to be indicative of adaptive radiation by the mimic rather than co-speciation between the mimic and the model. This shows that there is strong selection pressure on Myrmarachne, leading to a high degree of polymorphism. There is also evidence of sympatric speciation in Myrmarachne, the reproductive isolation possibly driven by female mate choice in polymorphic species.
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Affiliation(s)
- F S Ceccarelli
- School of Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
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JOHNSON STEVEND, ALEXANDERSSON RONNY, LINDER HPETER. Experimental and phylogenetic evidence for floral mimicry in a guild of fly-pollinated plants. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2003. [DOI: 10.1046/j.1095-8312.2003.00236.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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