ArticleEvolution letters2020
From cryptic to colorful: Evolutionary decoupling of larval and adult color in butterflies.
Article in Evolution letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Predator responses to prey camouflage strategies: a meta-analysis.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of tadpole taste tests: consumption of anuran prey across development and predator strategies.Oecologia · 2022Pooled it
- The Matador Bug and Several Related Leaf-footed Bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae) Accumulate Cyanogens From their Host Plants.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Article
- Carryover effects across juvenile periods vary by species, cause-specific mortality, and stage-specific behavior.Oecologia · 2026Article
- Solvent-switch-driven covalent organic framework nanosheets for ultra-robust and recyclable gas separation membrane.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Integrating Genomics, Collections, and Community Science to Delimit Species Clarifies the Taxonomy of a Variable Monitor Lizard (Varanus tristis).Systematic biology · 2026Article
- Life Woven in Mist: Immature stages and morphology of Andean Pronophilina butterflies from the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia (Satyrinae: Satyrini).Zoological studies · 2026Article
- Cryptic Ontogenetic Changes in the Ventral Coloration of a Color Polymorphic Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis).Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2026Article
- Predictors of Wing Attacks by Birds Across Australian Butterflies.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Complementary approaches to measure predation pressure on butterfly populations in Australia.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- The Odonata of China: a data-driven, open-access resource for biodiversity research and conservation.Database : the journal of biological databases and curation · 2025Article
- The link between gene duplication and divergent patterns of gene expression across a complex life cycle.Evolution letters · 2024Article
- Macroevolution of protective coloration across caterpillars reflects relationships with host plants.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- The evolution of conspicuousness in frogs: When to signal toxicity?Journal of evolutionary biology · 2022Article
- Genetic and environmental drivers of colour and pattern in the Australian jacky dragon (Amphibolurus muricatus).Journal of evolutionary biology · 2022Article
- Transcriptomic evidence for visual adaptation during the aquatic to terrestrial metamorphosis in leopard frogs.BMC biology · 2022Article
- The impact of life stage and pigment source on the evolution of novel warning signal traits.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022Article
- Genome-wide identification and gene-editing of pigment transporter genes in the swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus.BMC genomics · 2021Article
- From micro- to macroevolution: brood parasitism as a driver of phenotypic diversity in birds.Current zoology · 2020Article
- Genetic Color Polymorphism of the Whitelined Sphinx Moth larva (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae).Journal of insect science (Online) · 2020Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
Many animals undergo complete metamorphosis, where larval forms change abruptly in adulthood. Color change during ontogeny is common, but there is little understanding of evolutionary patterns in these changes. Here, we use data on larval and adult color for 246 butterfly species (61% of all species in Australia) to test whether the evolution of color is coupled between life stages. We show that adults are more variable in color across species than caterpillars and that male adult color has lower phylogenetic signal. These results suggest that sexual selection is driving color diversity in male adult butterflies at a broad scale. Moreover, color similarities between species at the larval stage do not predict color similarities at the adult stage, indicating that color evolution is decoupled between young and adult forms. Most species transition from cryptic coloration as caterpillars to conspicuous coloration as adults, but even species with conspicuous caterpillars change to different conspicuous colors as adults. The use of high-contrast coloration is correlated with body size in caterpillars but not adults. Taken together, our results suggest a change in the relative importance of different selective pressures at different life stages, resulting in the evolutionary decoupling of coloration through ontogeny.
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