The flashy wing colors of butterflies are spread through species crossbreeding, as are genes devoted to smell and taste, a new genetic analysis of butterflies of the genus Heliconius suggests. The crossbred butterflies seem to survive better in the wild.
"What we show is that one butterfly species can gain its protective color pattern genes ready-made from a different species by interbreeding with it — a much faster process than having to evolve one's color patterns from scratch," study researcher Kanchon Dasmahapatra, of University College London in the United Kingdom, said in a statement.
The researchers, who published their study today, May 16, in the journal Nature, first sequenced the genome of the Postman butterfly (Heliconius melpomene), a well-known species whose caterpillars feast on passion fruit vines in the Peruvian Amazon. They then examined the genetic makeup of two closely related species — Heliconius timareta and Heliconius elevatus —which have similar color patterns on their wings.
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