Wing Patterns in the Mist

Arnaud Martin is with University of California Irvine, Durrell D. Kapan is with University of Hawaii at Manoa, Lawrence E. Gilbert is with UT Austin.The aesthetic appeal of butterfly wing patterns has been costly to their status as a tool of fundamental scientific inquiry. Thus, while mimetic convergence in wing patterns between edible “Batesian” mimics and distasteful models, or between different distasteful “Müllerian” mimics (species that cooperate to educate predators) has long been the subject of genetic analysis [1] and field experiments [2], most biology text books confine mimicry to sections on striking adaptations without applying these examples to broader topics of evolution. Meanwhile, the study of color patterns in animals, often tucked into the same sections of texts, is undergoing a revolution in this age of evo-devo and genomics [3]. Among insect models for studying color pattern, the genus Heliconius is gaining the attention of an ever-widening audience.Biological Sciences, School o