Movatterモバイル変換

[0]ホーム
URL:

Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Advertisement

Nature
  • Letter
  • Published:

Reproductive isolation caused by colour pattern mimicry

Naturevolume 411, pages302–305 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Speciation is facilitated if ecological adaptation directly causes assortative mating1, but few natural examples are known. Here we show that a shift in colour pattern mimicry was crucial in the origin of two butterfly species. The sister speciesHeliconius melpomene andHeliconius cydno recently diverged to mimic different model taxa, and our experiments show that their mimetic coloration is also important in choosing mates. Assortative mating between the sister species means that hybridization is rare in nature, and the few hybrids that are produced are non-mimetic, poorly adapted intermediates. Thus, the mimetic shift has caused both pre-mating and post-mating isolation. In addition, individuals from a population ofH. melpomene allopatric toH. cydno court and mate withH. cydno more readily than those from a sympatric population. This suggests that assortative mating has been enhanced in sympatry.

This is a preview of subscription content,access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Subscription info for Japanese customers

We have a dedicated website for our Japanese customers. Please go tonatureasia.com to subscribe to this journal.

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1:Heliconius melpomene melpomene (left, French Guiana),H. melpomene rosina (centre, Panama),H. cydno chioneus (right, Panama) are shown together with co-mimics (below)H. erato hydara,H. erato cf. petiveranus andH. sapho sapho respectively.
Figure 2: Time spent courting live females in 10-min trials with 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 3: Relative probabilities of male approach and courtship of colour pattern models.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Maynard Smith, J. Sympatric speciation.Am. Nat.100, 637–650 (1966).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bates, H. W. Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley. Lepidoptera: Heliconidae.Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond.23, 495–566 (1862).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Vane-Wright, R. I. inDiversity of Insect Faunas (eds Mound, L. A. & Waloff, N.) 56–70 (Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Turner, J. R. G. Adaptation and evolution inHeliconius: a defense of neo-Darwinism.Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst.12, 99–121 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mallet, J. & Joron, M. Evolution of diversity in warning colour and mimicry: Polymorphisms, shifting balance and speciation.Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst.30, 201–233 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Turner, J. R. G. Adaptive radiation and convergence in subdivisions of the butterfly genusHeliconius (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).Zool. J. Linn. Soc.58, 297–308 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. McMillan, W. O., Jiggins, C. D. & Mallet, J. What initiates speciation in passion vine butterflies?Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA94, 8628–8633 (1997).

    Article ADS CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Mallet, J., McMillan, W. O. & Jiggins, C. D. inEndless Forms: Species and Speciation (eds Howard, D. J. & Berlocher, S. H.) 390–403 (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Linares, M.Adaptive Microevolution Through Hybridization and Biotic Destruction in the Neotropics (Thesis, Univ. Texas, Austin, Texas, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Gilbert, L. E. inEcology and Evolution Taking Flight: Butterflies as Model Systems (eds Boggs, C. L., Watt, W. B. & Ehrlich, P. R.) (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, in the press).

  11. Brower, A. V. Z. Parallel race formation and the evolution of mimicry inHeliconius butterflies: a phylogenetic hypothesis from mitochondrial DNA sequences.Evolution50, 195–221 (1996).

    Article CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Mallet, J. Causes and consequences of a lack of coevolution in Müllerian mimicry.Evol. Ecol.13, 777–806 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Dobzhansky, T. Speciation as a stage in evolutionary divergence.Am. Nat.74, 312–321 (1940).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Butlin, R. Speciation by reinforcement.Trends Ecol. Evol.2, 8–12 (1987).

    Article CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Noor, M. A. F. Reinforcement and other consequences of sympatry.Heredity83, 503–508 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Mallet, J. & Barton, N. H. Strong natural selection in a warning color hybrid zone.Evolution43, 421–431 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Dieckmann, U. & Doebeli, M. On the origin of species by sympatric speciation.Nature400, 354–357 (1999).

    Article ADS CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Kirkpatrick, M. Reinforcement and divergence under assortative mating.Proc. Roy. R. Lond. B267, 1649–1655 (2000).

    Article CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Craig, T. P., Itami, J. K., Abrahamson, W. G. & Horner, J. D. Behavioral evidence for host-race formation inEurosta solidaginis.Evolution47, 1696–1710 (1993).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Feder, J. L. et al. Host fidelity is an effective premating barrier between sympatric races of the apple maggot fly.Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA91, 7990–7994 (1994).

    Article ADS CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Rundle, H. D., Nagel, L., Wenrick Boughman, J. & Schluter, D. Natural selection and parallel speciation in sympatric sticklebacks.Science287, 306–308 (2000).

    Article ADS CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Mallet, J. & Gilbert, L. E. Why are there so many mimicry rings? Correlations between habitat, behaviour and mimicry inHeliconius butterflies.Biol. J. Linn. Soc.55, 159–180 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Edwards, A. W. F.Likelihood (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1972).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank C. Paresce, C. Estrada, R. Woods, M. Beltrán and L. O'Donovan for help with experiments; B. Hermiers for help in French Guiana; F. Jiggins, M. Joron, I. Emelianov, E. Bermingham and G. Hurst for discussion; and S. Upson at Perkin Elmer for reflectance measurements. This work was carried out with permission from ANAM (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente) to work in the República de Panamá, and was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and a BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) studentship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Galton Laboratory, University College London, 4 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HE, UK

    Chris D. Jiggins, Russell E. Naisbit & James Mallet

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Panama

    Chris D. Jiggins & James Mallet

  3. Downing College, The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1DQ, UK

    Rebecca L. Coe

Authors
  1. Chris D. Jiggins

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Russell E. Naisbit

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rebecca L. Coe

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. James Mallet

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence toChris D. Jiggins.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jiggins, C., Naisbit, R., Coe, R.et al. Reproductive isolation caused by colour pattern mimicry.Nature411, 302–305 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35077075

Download citation

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Advertisement

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for theNature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox.Sign up for Nature Briefing
[8]ページ先頭
©2009-2025 Movatter.jp