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Reproductive isolation caused by colour pattern mimicry

Nature volume 411, pages 302–305 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Speciation is facilitated if ecological adaptation directly causes assortative mating1, but few natural examples are known. Here we show that a shift in colour pattern mimicry was crucial in the origin of two butterfly species. The sister species Heliconius melpomene and Heliconius cydno recently diverged to mimic different model taxa, and our experiments show that their mimetic coloration is also important in choosing mates. Assortative mating between the sister species means that hybridization is rare in nature, and the few hybrids that are produced are non-mimetic, poorly adapted intermediates. Thus, the mimetic shift has caused both pre-mating and post-mating isolation. In addition, individuals from a population of H. melpomene allopatric to H. cydno court and mate with H. cydno more readily than those from a sympatric population. This suggests that assortative mating has been enhanced in sympatry.

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Figure 1: Heliconius melpomene melpomene (left, French Guiana), H. melpomene rosina (centre, Panama), H. cydno chioneus (right, Panama) are shown together with co-mimics (below) H. erato hydara, H. erato cf. petiveranus and H. sapho sapho respectively.
Figure 2: Time spent courting live females in 10-min trials with 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 3: Relative probabilities of male approach and courtship of colour pattern models.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Paresce, C. Estrada, R. Woods, M. Beltrán and L. O'Donovan for help with experiments; B. Hermiers for help in French Guiana; F. Jiggins, M. Joron, I. Emelianov, E. Bermingham and G. Hurst for discussion; and S. Upson at Perkin Elmer for reflectance measurements. This work was carried out with permission from ANAM (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente) to work in the República de Panamá, and was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and a BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) studentship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Galton Laboratory, University College London, 4 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HE, UK

    Chris D. Jiggins, Russell E. Naisbit & James Mallet

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Panama

    Chris D. Jiggins & James Mallet

  3. Downing College, The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1DQ, UK

    Rebecca L. Coe

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  1. Chris D. Jiggins
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  2. Russell E. Naisbit
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Correspondence to Chris D. Jiggins.

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Jiggins, C., Naisbit, R., Coe, R. et al. Reproductive isolation caused by colour pattern mimicry. Nature 411, 302–305 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35077075

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