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Highlights d Laminin spots devoid of other basement-membrane components adhere Drosophila wings d Cytoskeleton cables grow symmetrically from laminin spots because of hydrostatic pressure d Cables contain spectraplakin, septins, and SRF-dependent microtubule stabilizer Sdb d Lepidopteran wings display similar cables and expression of Sdb in SRF-like patterns

Heliconius butterflies have undergone adaptive radiation and therefore serve as an excellent system for exploring the continuum of speciation and adaptive evolution. However, there is a long-lasting paradox between their convergent mimetic wing patterns and rapid divergence in speciation. Here, we characterize a locus that consistently displays high divergence among Heliconius butterflies and acts as an introgression hotspot. We further show that this locus contains multiple genes related to locomotion and conserved in Lepidoptera. In light of these findings, we consider that locomotion traits may be under selection, and if these are heritable traits that are selected for, then they might act as species barriers.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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