The association between wing morphology and dispersal is sex-specific in the glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae)

We examined whether dispersal was associated with body and wing morphology and individual quality, and whether such an association was sex-specific, in the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia (L.) in Paldiski on the north coast of Estonia. Body weight, size and shape of both fore- and hindwing, wing aspect ratio and wing loading were used as measures of body and wing morphology. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of wing shape was used as a measure of individual quality. Males and females did not differ in dispersal rates, despite large differences in overall morphology and FA. Females had a significantly higher wing loading and aspect ratio, but a lower FA than males. Females, but not males, that dispersed differed in forewing shape from those that did not disperse. The sex-specifity of the covariation between dispersal and forewing shape is most probably due to wing shape being associated with different life-history traits in both sexes, resulting in different selection pressures on wing shape in each of the sexes.

[1]  P. Aerts,et al.  On the sex-specific mechanisms of butterfly flight: flight performance relative to flight morphology, wing kinematics, and sex in Pararge aegeria , 2006 .

[2]  M. Gibbs,et al.  Effect of larval‐rearing density on adult life‐history traits and developmental stability of the dorsal eyespot pattern in the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria , 2006 .

[3]  J. Marden,et al.  A candidate locus for variation in dispersal rate in a butterfly metapopulation , 2005, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[4]  A. J. Moore,et al.  Egg size-number trade-off and a decline in oviposition site choice quality: Female Pararge aegeria butterflies pay a cost of having males present at oviposition , 2005, Journal of insect science.

[5]  F. Stehr.  On the Wings of Checkerspots: A Model System for Population Biology , 2005 .

[6]  P. Brakefield,et al.  Natural Selection and Developmental Constraints in the Evolution of Allometries , 2005, Science.

[7]  Otso Ovaskainen,et al.  Variation in migration propensity among individuals maintained by landscape structure , 2004 .

[8]  M. Lalumière,et al.  Developmental instability: Causes and consequences , 2004 .

[9]  H. Dyck,et al.  Take-off performance under optimal and suboptimal thermal conditions in the butterfly Pararge aegeria , 2004, Oecologia.

[10]  M. Gibbs,et al.  Intraspecific competition in the speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria: Effect of rearing density and gender on larval life history , 2004, Journal of insect science.

[11]  P. Brakefield,et al.  Lack of response to selection for lower fluctuating asymmetry of mutant eyespots in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana , 2003, Heredity.

[12]  R. J. White,et al.  Quantitative description and discrimination of butterfly wing patterns using moment invariant analysis. , 2003, Bulletin of entomological research.

[13]  W. Nachtigall,et al.  The biomechanics of insect flight. Form, function, and evolution: Robert Dudley; Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ , 2003 .

[14]  O. Leimar,et al.  Spatial and temporal variation in flight morphology in the butterfly Melitaea cinxia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) , 2002 .

[15]  I. Hanski,et al.  Population history and life history influence the migration rate of female Glanville fritillary butterflies , 2002 .

[16]  P. Brakefield,et al.  Female choice depends on size but not symmetry of dorsal eyespots in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana , 2002, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[17]  C. Wiklund,et al.  Seasonal butterfly design: morphological plasticity among three developmental pathways relative to sex, flight and thermoregulation , 2002 .

[18]  I. Singer.  Some Relations Between Linear Mappings and Conjugations in Idempotent Analysis , 2001 .

[19]  R. B. Srygley.  Compensation for fluctuations in crosswind drift without stationary landmarks in butterflies migrating over seas , 2001, Animal Behaviour.

[20]  C. Klingenberg,et al.  Inferring Developmental Modularity from Morphological Integration: Analysis of Individual Variation and Asymmetry in Bumblebee Wings , 2001, The American Naturalist.

[21]  R. B. Srygley,et al.  Effects of weight loading on flight performance and survival of palatable Neotropical Anartia fatima , 2000 .

[22]  I. Hanski,et al.  LOCAL SPECIALIZATION AND LANDSCAPE-LEVEL INFLUENCE ON HOST USE IN AN HERBIVOROUS INSECT , 2000 .

[23]  A. Bergström,et al.  Butterfly Host Plant Choice in the Face of Possible Confusion , 2000, Journal of Insect Behavior.

[24]  F. Bookstein,et al.  Statistical assessment of bilateral symmetry of shapes , 2000 .

[25]  Otso Ovaskainen,et al.  The metapopulation capacity of a fragmented landscape , 2000, Nature.

[26]  Buchanan,et al.  Stress and the evolution of condition-dependent signals. , 2000, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[27]  R. J. Robertson,et al.  Food stress, nestling growth, and fluctuating asymmetry , 2000 .

[28]  R. Dudley.  The Biomechanics of Insect Flight: Form, Function, Evolution , 1999 .

[29]  I. Hanski,et al.  Host diet affects extinctions and colonizations in a parasitoid metapopulation , 1999 .

[30]  I. Hanski.  Habitat connectivity, habitat continuity, and metapopulations in dynamic landscapes , 1999 .

[31]  S. Nylin,et al.  Adaptive wing asymmetry in males of the speckled wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)? , 1999, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[32]  D. Goulson,et al.  SIZE, SYMMETRY, AND SEXUAL SELECTION IN THE HOUSEFLY, MUSCA DOMESTICA , 1999, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[33]  Thornhill,et al.  Individual differences in developmental precision and fluctuating asymmetry: a model and its implications , 1999 .

[34]  Christian Peter Klingenberg,et al.  GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS OF DEVELOPMENTAL INSTABILITY: ANALYZING PATTERNS OF FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY WITH PROCRUSTES METHODS , 1998, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[35]  K. Mardia,et al.  Statistical Shape Analysis , 1998 .

[36]  I. Hanski,et al.  Inbreeding and extinction in a butterfly metapopulation , 1998, Nature.

[37]  H. Nijhout,et al.  Competition among body parts in the development and evolution of insect morphology. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[38]  J. Swaddle.  Within-individual changes in developmental stability affect flight performance , 1997 .

[39]  A. Møller.  Developmental Stability and Fitness: A Review , 1997, The American Naturalist.

[40]  G. Matessi.  Is variation in orientation related to fluctuating asymmetry in migratory passerines , 1997 .

[41]  J. Swaddle,et al.  Food, feathers and fluctuating asymmetries , 1994, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[42]  M. Baguette,et al.  Adult movements between populations in the specialist butterfly Proclossiana eunomia (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) , 1994 .

[43]  P. Wickman.  SEXUAL SELECTION AND BUTTERFLY DESIGN—A COMPARATIVE STUDY , 1992, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[44]  R. Wootton,et al.  WING SHAPE AND FLIGHT BEHAVIOUR IN BUTTERFLIES (LEPIDOPTERA: PAPILIONOIDEA AND HESPERIOIDEA): A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS , 1988 .

[45]  Y. Escoufier.  LE TRAITEMENT DES VARIABLES VECTORIELLES , 1973 .

[46]  L. V. Valen,et al.  A STUDY OF FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY , 1962 .

[47]  Z. Fric,et al.  Mechanical design indicates differences in mobility among butterfly generations , 2006 .

[48]  Martin Konvic.  Generations of the polyphenic butterfly Araschnia levana differ in body design , 2002 .

[49]  C. Strobeck,et al.  Fluctuating Asymmetry Analyses Revisited , 2001 .

[50]  Atte Moilanen,et al.  ESTIMATING THE PARAMETERS OF SURVIVAL AND MIGRATION OF INDIVIDUALS IN METAPOPULATIONS , 2000 .

[51]  M. Baguette,et al.  Male density affects female spatial behaviour in the butterfly Proclossiana eunomia , 1996 .

[52]  S. Nylin,et al.  Host plant preferences in the comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album): Do parents and offspring agree? , 1996 .

[53]  Therese A. Markow,et al.  Evolutionary Ecology and Developmental Instability , 1995 .

[54]  R. B. Srygley,et al.  CORRELATIONS OF THE POSITION OF CENTER OF BODY MASS WITH BUTTERFLY ESCAPE TACTICS , 1993 .

[55]  C. Goodall.  Procrustes methods in the statistical analysis of shape , 1991 .

[56]  C. Strobeck,et al.  Fluctuating Asymmetry: Measurement, Analysis, Patterns , 1986 .