Mutualisms within light microhabitats are associated with sensory convergence in a mimetic butterfly community

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wainwright, J. Benito; Loupasaki, Theodora; Ramirez, Francisco; Penry, Iestyn L.; England, Sam J.; Barker, Annalie; Meier, Joana I.; How, Martin J.; Roberts, Nicholas W.; Troscianko, Jolyon; Montgomery, Stephen H.
• 署名单位: University of Bristol; Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador; Leibniz Institut fur Evolutions und Biodiversitatsforschung; University of Cambridge; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; University of Exeter; University of St Andrews
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-13326
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2422397122
• 发表日期: 2025-07-22
• 关键词: r package; ecological specialization; ithomiine butterflies; brain composition; visual pigments; color; signals; plants; lepidoptera; adaptations

摘要

Niche partitioning within variable habitats can expose species to distinct sensory information. Vision is the primary sensory modality used by many animals to interact with their habitat. However, the role of terrestrial light environment properties in shaping species assemblages and visual system evolution is not fully understood. By studying a diverse, sympatric community of mimetic butterflies, we demonstrate that forest architecture creates a mosaic of light microhabitats that drive adaptive sensory convergence and divergence in both peripheral and central sensory systems. Our results show that across the visual system, predictable patterns of evolution characterize how species adapt to the availability of sensory information within their preferred light microhabitat. Our study provides an example of how visual systems consistently respond to their external sensory world, and illustrates the wide-reaching consequences of interspecific mutual-isms, such as M & uuml;llerian mimicry, on organismal evolution.