Signal design and courtship presentation coincide for highly biased delivery of an iridescent butterfly mating signal
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White, Thomas E.; Zeil, Jochen; Kemp, Darrell J.
Description
Sensory drive theory contends that signaling systems should evolve to optimize transmission between senders and intended receivers, while minimizing visibility to eavesdroppers where possible. In visual communication systems, the high directionality afforded by iridescent coloration presents underappreciated avenues for mediating this trade-off. This hypothesis predicts functional links between signal design and presentation such that visual conspicuousness is maximized only under ecologically...[Show more]
dc.contributor.author | White, Thomas E. | |
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dc.contributor.author | Zeil, Jochen | |
dc.contributor.author | Kemp, Darrell J. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2015-05-22T04:27:28Z | |
dc.date.available | 2015-05-22T04:27:28Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0014-3820 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/13560 | |
dc.description.abstract | Sensory drive theory contends that signaling systems should evolve to optimize transmission between senders and intended receivers, while minimizing visibility to eavesdroppers where possible. In visual communication systems, the high directionality afforded by iridescent coloration presents underappreciated avenues for mediating this trade-off. This hypothesis predicts functional links between signal design and presentation such that visual conspicuousness is maximized only under ecologically relevant settings and/or to select audiences. We addressed this prediction using Hypolimnas bolina, a butterfly in which males possess ultraviolet markings on their dorsal wing surfaces with a narrow angular reflectance function. Males bearing brighter dorsal markings are increasingly attractive to females, but also likely more conspicuous to predators. Our data indicate that, during courtship (and given the ritualized wingbeat dynamics at these times), males position themselves relative to females in such a way as to simultaneously maximize three components of known or putative signal conspicuousness: brightness, area, and iridescent flash. This suggests that male signal design and display have coevolved for the delivery of an optimally conspicuous signal to courted females. More broadly, these findings imply a potential signaling role for iridescence itself, and pose a novel example for how signal design may coevolve with the behavioral context of display. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | This research was funded by the Macquarie UniversityBiological Science Honours program (TEW), the ARC Centre of Excel-lence Scheme grant CE0561903 (JZ), and by Australia–Pacific ScienceFoundation grant APSF-10–9 (DJK). | |
dc.publisher | Wiley | |
dc.rights | © 2014 The Author(s). Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. | |
dc.source | Evolution | |
dc.subject | color signals | |
dc.subject | lepidoptera | |
dc.subject | private communication | |
dc.subject | sexual selection | |
dc.subject | ultraviolet | |
dc.title | Signal design and courtship presentation coincide for highly biased delivery of an iridescent butterfly mating signal | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
local.identifier.citationvolume | 69 | |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2014-10-06 | |
dc.date.issued | 2015-01 | |
local.identifier.absfor | 060805 - Animal Neurobiology | |
local.identifier.ariespublication | a383154xPUB1296 | |
local.publisher.url | http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/ | |
local.type.status | Published Version | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Zeil, J., Research School of Biology, The Australian National University | |
dc.relation | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/CE0561903 | |
local.identifier.essn | 1558-5646 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.issue | 1 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage | 14 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage | 25 | |
local.identifier.doi | 10.1111/evo.12551 | |
dc.date.updated | 2015-12-10T10:30:31Z | |
local.identifier.scopusID | 2-s2.0-84925397096 | |
Collections | ANU Research Publications |
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