A release from developmental bias accelerates morphological diversification in butterfly eyespots.

ABSTRACT: Development can bias the independent evolution of traits sharing ontogenetic pathways, making certain evolutionary changes less likely. The eyespots commonly found on butterfly wings each have concentric rings of differing colors, and these serially repeated pattern elements have been a focus for evo-devo research. In the butterfly family Nymphalidae, eyespots have been shown to function in startling or deflecting predators and to be involved in sexual selection. Previous work on a model species of Mycalesina butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, has provided insights into the developmental control of the size and color composition of individual eyespots. Experimental evolution has also shown that the relative size of a pair of eyespots on the same wing surface is highly flexible, whereas th

SUBMITTER: Brattstrom O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7959562 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature