Independent evolution of sexual dimorphism and female-limited mimicry in swallowtail butterflies (Papilio dardanus and Papilio phorcas)

Evolution: A kit for fooling your rivals

Some male swordtail fish mimic female 'pregnancy spots' to reduce aggression from rival males and gain a fitness advantage. This sexual mimicry is linked to evolutionary changes in the regulatory region of the kit-liganda gene that controls melanocyte development.

Genomics of the relict species Baronia brevicornis sheds light on its demographic history and genome size evolution across swallowtail butterflies

Relict species, like coelacanth, gingko, tuatara, are the remnants of formerly more ecologically and taxonomically diverse lineages. It raises the questions of why they are currently species-poor, have restrained ecology, and are often vulnerable to extinction. Estimating heterozygosity level and demographic history can guide our understanding of the evolutionary history and conservation status of relict species. However, few studies have focused on relict invertebrates compared to vertebrates. We sequenced the genome of Baronia brevicornis (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae), which is an endangered species, the sister species of all swallowtail butterflies, and is the oldest lineage of all extant butterflies. From a dried specimen, we were able to generate both long-read and short-read data and assembled a genome of 406 Mb for Baronia. We found a fairly high level of heterozygosity (0.58%) compared to other swallowtail butterflies, which contrasts with its endangered and relict status. Taking into account the high ratio of recombination over mutation, demographic analyses indicated a sharp decline of the effective population size initiated in the last million years. Moreover, the Baronia genome was used to study genome size variation in Papilionidae. Genome sizes are mostly explained by transposable elements activities, suggesting that large genomes appear to be a derived feature in swallowtail butterflies as transposable elements activity is recent and involves different transposable elements classes among species. This first Baronia genome provides a resource for assisting conservation in a flagship and relict insect species as well as for understanding swallowtail genome evolution.

Evolutionary origins of sexual dimorphism: Lessons from female-limited mimicry in butterflies

The striking female-limited mimicry observed in some butterfly species is a text-book example of sexually dimorphic trait submitted to intense natural selection. Two main evolutionary hypotheses, based on natural and sexual selection respectively, have been proposed. Predation pressure favoring mimicry toward defended species could be higher in females because of their slower flight, and thus overcome developmental constraints favoring the ancestral trait that limits the evolution of mimicry in males but not in females. Alternatively, the evolution of mimicry in males could be limited by female preference for non-mimetic males. However, the evolutionary origin of female preference for non-mimetic males remains unclear. Here, we hypothesize that costly sexual interactions between individuals from distinct sympatric species might intensify because of mimicry, therefore promoting female preference for non-mimetic trait. Using a mathematical model, we compare the evolution of female-limited mimicry when assuming either alternative selective hypotheses. We show that the patterns of divergence of male and female trait from the ancestral traits can differ between these selection regimes. We specifically highlight that divergence in female trait is not a signature of the effect of natural selection. Our results also evidence why female-limited mimicry is more frequently observed in Batesian mimics.

Comparative Phylogenetics of Papilio Butterfly Wing Shape and Size Demonstrates Independent Hindwing and Forewing Evolution

The complex forces that shape butterfly wings have long been a subject of experimental and comparative research. Butterflies use their wings for flight, camouflage, mate recognition, warning, and mimicry. However, general patterns and correlations among wing shape and size evolution are still poorly understood. We collected geometric morphometric measurements from over 1400 digitized museum specimens of Papilio swallowtails and combined them with phylogenetic data to test two hypotheses: 1) forewing shape and size evolve independently of hindwing shape and size and 2) wing size evolves more quickly than wing shape. We also determined the major axes of wing shape variation and discovered that most shape variability occurs in hindwing tails and adjacent areas. We conclude that forewing shape and size are functionally and biomechanically constrained, whereas hindwings are more labile, perhaps in response to disruptive selective pressure for Batesian mimicry or against predation. The development of a significant, re-usable, digitized data resource will enable further investigation on tradeoffs between flight performance and ecological selective pressures, along with the degree to which intraspecific, local-scale selection may explain macroevolutionary patterns. [Batesian mimicry; Lepidoptera; geometric morphometrics; museum specimens.].

Mimicry diversification in Papilio dardanus via a genomic inversion in the regulatory region of engrailed-invected

Polymorphic Batesian mimics exhibit multiple protective morphs that each mimic a different noxious model. Here, we study the genomic transitions leading to the evolution of different mimetic wing patterns in the polymorphic Mocker Swallowtail Papilio dardanus. We generated a draft genome (231 Mb over 30 chromosomes) and re-sequenced individuals of three morphs. Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis revealed elevated linkage disequilibrium and divergence between morphs in the regulatory region of engrailed, a developmental gene previously implicated in the mimicry switch. The diverged region exhibits a discrete chromosomal inversion (of 40 kb) relative to the ancestral orientation that is associated with the cenea morph, but not with the bottom-recessive hippocoonides morph or with non-mimetic allopatric populations. The functional role of this inversion in the expression of the novel phenotype is currently unknown, but by preventing recombination, it allows the stable inheritance of divergent alleles enabling geographic spread and local coexistence of multiple adaptive morphs.

Different ommochrome pigment mixtures enable sexually dimorphic Batesian mimicry in disjunct populations of the common palmfly butterfly, Elymnias hypermnestra

With varied, brightly patterned wings, butterflies have been the focus of much work on the evolution and development of phenotypic novelty. However, the chemical structures of wing pigments from few butterfly species have been identified. We characterized the orange wing pigments of female Elymnias hypermnestra butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from two Southeast Asian populations. This species is a sexually dimorphic Batesian mimic of several model species. Females are polymorphic: in some populations, females are dark, resemble conspecific males, and mimic Euploea spp. In other populations, females differ from males and mimic orange Danaus spp. Using LC-MS/MS, we identified nine ommochrome pigments: six from a population in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and five compounds from a population in Bali, Indonesia. Two ommochromes were found in both populations, and only two of the nine compounds have been previously reported. The sexually dimorphic Thai and Balinese populations are separated spatially by monomorphic populations in peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and Sumatra, suggesting independent evolution of mimetic female wing pigments in these disjunct populations. These results indicate that other butterfly wing pigments remain to be discovered.

Tracing the origin and evolution of supergene mimicry in butterflies

Supergene mimicry is a striking phenomenon but we know little about the evolution of this trait in any species. Here, by studying genomes of butterflies from a recent radiation in which supergene mimicry has been isolated to the gene doublesex, we show that sexually dimorphic mimicry and female-limited polymorphism are evolutionarily related as a result of ancient balancing selection combined with independent origins of similar morphs in different lineages and secondary loss of polymorphism in other lineages. Evolutionary loss of polymorphism appears to have resulted from an interaction between natural selection and genetic drift. Furthermore, molecular evolution of the supergene is dominated not by adaptive protein evolution or balancing selection, but by extensive hitchhiking of linked variants on the mimetic dsx haplotype that occurred at the origin of mimicry. Our results suggest that chance events have played important and possibly opposing roles throughout the history of this classic example of adaptation.