Integration of wings and their eyespots in the speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria

Casper J. Breuker, Melanie Gibbs, Hans Van Dyck, Paul M. Brakefield, Christian Peter Klingenberg, Stefan Van Dongen

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We investigated both the phenotypic and developmental integration of eyespots on the fore- and hindwings of speckled wood butterflies Pararge aegeria. Eyespots develop within a framework of wing veins, which may not only separate eyespots developmentally, but may at the same time also integrate them by virtue of being both signalling sources and barriers during eyespot development. We therefore specifically investigated the interaction between wing venation patterns and eyespot integration. Phenotypic covariation among eyespots was very high, but only eyespots in neighbouring wing cells and in homologous wing cells on different wing surfaces were developmentally integrated. This can be explained by the fact that the wing cells of these eyespots share one or more wing veins. The wing venation patterns of fore- and hindwings were highly integrated, both phenotypically and developmentally. This did not affect overall developmental integration of the eyespots. The adaptive significance of integration patterns is discussed and more specifically we stress the need to conduct studies on phenotypic plasticity of integration. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)454-463
    Number of pages9
    JournalJournal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution
    Volume308
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 15 Jul 2007

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