Dissecting comimetic radiations in Heliconius reveals divergent histories of convergent butterflies.

ABSTRACT: Mimicry among Heliconius butterflies provides a classic example of coevolution but unresolved relationships among mimetic subspecies have prevented examination of codiversification between species. We present amplified fragment length polymorphism and mtDNA datasets for the major comimetic races of Heliconius erato and H. melpomene. The AFLP data reveal unprecedented resolution, clustering samples by geography and race in both species. Our results show that, although H. erato and H. melpomene co-occur, mimic each other, and exhibit parallel shifts in color pattern, they experienced very different modes of diversification and geographic histories. Our results suggest that H. erato originated on the western side of South America whereas H. melpomene originated in the east. H. erato underwent

SUBMITTER: Quek SP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2867687 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature