ArticleNature2014
The genetics of monarch butterfly migration and warning colouration.
Article in Nature, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 121 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
121 citing papers in PubMed, 305 citations in OpenAlex.
- Environmental and Genetic Conditions Shaping Monarch Butterfly Migration Biology.Animal behaviour · 2026Article
- Genetic Variation Predominates Over Developmental Temperature-Induced Plasticity in Shaping Migratory Flight Capacity in the Diamondback Moth.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- No Consistent Effect of Migration on Speciation Rates in Two Avian Superfamilies: A Check on the Robustness of Trait-Dependent Diversification Methods.Systematic biology · 2026Article
- The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies - neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- Eastern North American Monarch Butterfly Conservation Needs and Opportunities: What the Science Tells Us.Insects · 2026Review
- High migratory potential of fall armyworm in West Africa despite stable temperatures and widely available year-round habitats.Insect science · 2026Article
- A north-south hemispheric migratory divide in the butterfly Vanessa cardui.Nature communications · 2025Article
- To Migrate or not to Migrate? Exploring the Genomic Basis of Partial Migratory Behavior in Bats.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Coalescent theory of the ψ directionality index.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- Footprints of Human Migration in the Population Structure of Wild Baker's Yeast.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Lepidopteran Genomes Have Denser Transposable Elements in Smaller Chromosomes, Likely Driven by Non-allelic Homologous Recombination.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Novel genetic association with migratory diapause in Australian monarch butterflies.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Resistance and Tolerance to Imperfectly Specialized Parasites: Milkweed Butterflies and Their Protozoan Parasites.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Multiple factors contribute to female dominance in migratory bioflows.Open biology · 2025Article
- Isotope geolocation and population genomics inPNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Whole-Genome Evaluation of Genetic Rescue: The Case of a Curiously Isolated and Endangered Butterfly.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Effects of Flavonoids on Insects: Implications for Managing Pests Without Harming Beneficials.Insects · 2024Review
- A comparison of the large-scale gene expression patterns in summer and fall migratoryEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Insect Flight: State of the Field and Future Directions.Integrative and comparative biology · 2024Article
- A trans-oceanic flight of over 4,200 km by painted lady butterflies.Nature communications · 2024Article
61 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
10 authors at 9 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, is famous for its spectacular annual migration across North America, recent worldwide dispersal, and orange warning colouration. Despite decades of study and broad public interest, we know little about the genetic basis of these hallmark traits. Here we uncover the history of the monarch's evolutionary origin and global dispersal, characterize the genes and pathways associated with migratory behaviour, and identify the discrete genetic basis of warning colouration by sequencing 101 Danaus genomes from around the globe. The results rewrite our understanding of this classic system, showing that D. plexippus was ancestrally migratory and dispersed out of North America to occupy its broad distribution. We find the strongest signatures of selection associated with migration centre on flight muscle function, resulting in greater flight efficiency among migratory monarchs, and that variation in monarch warning colouration is controlled by a single myosin gene not previously implicated in insect pigmentation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.