ArticleNature communications2023
Rapid expansion and visual specialisation of learning and memory centres in the brains of Heliconiini butterflies.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolution of compound eye cell types shapes visual behaviors acrossbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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- Evolution of increased longevity and slowed ageing in a genus of tropical butterfly.Nature communications · 2026Article
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- Emerging tools to advance neuroethology in butterflies and moths.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- 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
- The evolution of lepidopteran brain morphology.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Article
- Butterfly brains change in morphology and in gene splicing patterns after brief pheromone exposure.BMC biology · 2026Article
- Modular presynaptic assemblages scale to postsynaptic partner number.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Transcriptional responses in feeder time-trained foragers suggest diverse interactions between the circadian clock and mushroom bodies in honey bees.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Heliconiini butterflies display flight behaviours reminiscent of orientation flights when using new floral sources.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Modality-specific long-term memory enhancement inPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Evolution of diverse (and advanced) cognitive abilities through adaptive fine-tuning of learning and chunking mechanisms.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Sexual dimorphism and morphological integration in the orchid bee brain.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Novel Sex-Specific Genes and Diverse Interspecific Expression in the Antennal Transcriptomes of Ithomiine Butterflies.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Weighting of sensory cues reflect changing patterns of visual investment during ecological divergence inBiology letters · 2024Article
- Diversity of visual inputs to Kenyon cells of the Drosophila mushroom body.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Using motion-detection cameras to monitor foraging behaviour of individual butterflies.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Evolution of neural circuitry and cognition.Biology letters · 2024Review
- Pupal and Adult Experience Affect Adult Response to Food Odour Components in the Flower-Visiting ButterflyInsects · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Changes in the abundance and diversity of neural cell types, and their connectivity, shape brain composition and provide the substrate for behavioral evolution. Although investment in sensory brain regions is understood to be largely driven by the relative ecological importance of particular sensory modalities, how selective pressures impact the elaboration of integrative brain centers has been more difficult to pinpoint. Here, we provide evidence of extensive, mosaic expansion of an integration brain center among closely related species, which is not explained by changes in sites of primary sensory input. By building new datasets of neural traits among a tribe of diverse Neotropical butterflies, the Heliconiini, we detected several major evolutionary expansions of the mushroom bodies, central brain structures pivotal for insect learning and memory. The genus Heliconius, which exhibits a unique dietary innovation, pollen-feeding, and derived foraging behaviors reliant on spatial memory, shows the most extreme enlargement. This expansion is primarily associated with increased visual processing areas and coincides with increased precision of visual processing, and enhanced long term memory. These results demonstrate that selection for behavioral innovation and enhanced cognitive ability occurred through expansion and localized specialization in integrative brain centers.
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