ArticleJournal of evolutionary biology2017
Diversity in warning coloration is easily recognized by avian predators.
Article in Journal of evolutionary biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Untangling Colour Diversity: Ecogeographic Patterns in TwoEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Evolutionary Drivers of Conspicuous Spots in Velvet Ants (Hymenoptera:Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Predator selection on phenotypic variability of cryptic and aposematic moths.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Pattern variation is linked to anti-predator coloration in butterfly larvae.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Pupal Warning Coloration of Three Species ofInsects · 2022Article
- Brain de novo transcriptome assembly of a toad species showing polymorphic anti-predatory behavior.Scientific data · 2022Article
- Factors determining the dorsal coloration pattern of aposematic salamanders.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Diversity in warning coloration: selective paradox or the norm?Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2019Review
- Adaptive colour change and background choice behaviour in peppered moth caterpillars is mediated by extraocular photoreception.Communications biology · 2019Article
- No evidence of quantitative signal honesty across species of aposematic burnet moths (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae).Journal of evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- The appearance of mimetic Heliconius butterflies to predators and conspecifics.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2018Article
- Sex differences but no evidence of quantitative honesty in the warning signals of six-spot burnet moths (Zygaena filipendulae L.).Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Warning coloration is a widespread strategy to alert predators about prey unprofitability. The success of this strategy partly depends on predators being able to learn and recognize certain signals as indicators of toxicity, and theory predicts that this is easier if signals converge on similar colours. However, the diversity in warning signal form is astonishing, contradicting predictions. Here, we quantified ladybird signal diversity with respect to avian vision, measuring how unique and discernible each signal is from one another. In addition, we measured signal conspicuousness against a series of backgrounds, namely an average green, average brown, and where we collected each species, to determine whether signals are more contrasting against the ladybirds' local substrates than compared to average ones. This allowed us to establish whether there are local adaptations in conspicuousness that promote signal diversity. We found that while ladybird signals are unique and recognizable, specialist species are more contrasting against the background they are most commonly found on. However, overall our study suggests that warning signals have evolved to be effective against a wide range of natural backgrounds, partly explaining the success of this strategy in nature.
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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.