Male wing color properties predict the size of nuptial gifts given during mating in the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor)

Abstract

In many animals, males bear bright ornamental color patches that may signal both the 6 direct and indirect benefits that a female might accrue from mating with him. Here we test 7 whether male coloration in the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor, predicts two 8 potential direct benefits for females, copulation duration and the quantity of materials the male 9 passes to the female during mating. In this species, males have a bright iridescent blue field on 10 the dorsal hindwing surface while females have little or no dorsal iridescence. Females 11 preferentially mate with males who display a bright and highly chromatic blue on their dorsal 12 hindwing. In this study, we show that the chroma of the blue on the male dorsal hindwing and 13 male body size (forewing length) significantly predict the mass of material or spermatophore that 14 a male forms within the female's copulatory sac during mating. We also found that 15 spermatophore mass correlated negatively with copulation duration, but that color variables did 16 not significantly predict this potential direct benefit. These results suggest that females may 17 enhance the material benefits they receive during mating by mating with males based on the 18 coloration of their dorsal hindwing.

Effects of sodium puddling on male mating success, courtship and flight in a swallowtail butterfly

“…Second, in B. philenor , as in many puddling species, sodium is transferred to females via a spermatophore during mating (Mitra, Papaj, & Davidowitz, n.d.); therefore, if females prefer males that have consumed sodium, there must be a cue/signal that females assess before mating that is correlated with sodium consumption status. Third, previous work in this species has shown that there is substantial variation in the size of the spermatophores that male B. philenor transfer to females (mean ± SE = 6.5 ± 2.02 mg, N = 75, as reported in Rajyaguru et al, 2013), suggesting that direct benefit quality may vary considerably among males. Lastly, most B. philenor females only mate once or twice in their lifetime (Burns, 1968; Rutowski et al, 1989), suggesting that if male sodium increases the fitness of his offspring, natural selection on males may decrease the likelihood that deception may evolve in males of this species.…”

Phenotypic variation inHeliconius eratocrosses shows that iridescent structural colour is sex-linked and controlled by multiple genes

“…rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org Interface Focus 9: 20180047 calculated that in Drosophila, around a third of phenotypic variation in sexually selected traits was caused by X-linked genes, and that X-linked genes only influenced traits classified as under sexual selection. Iridescent structural colours are used as sexual signals in many butterfly species [2,34,35]. Work with Colias butterflies has found many wing pattern elements are sex-linked, including melanization, UV reflectance and yellow wing pigmentation [36,37].…”

Impact of male condition on his spermatophore and consequences for female reproductive performance in the Glanville fritillary butterfly

“…Female butterflies are known to be able to choose their mate based on various cues, often either visual or olfactory. In the Common grass yellow butterfly, Eurema hecabe, and in the Pipevine swallowtail, Battus philenor, females are attracted to males with bright iridescence spots on their wings, which, in the Pipevine swallowtail, act as indicators of males that provide larger spermatophores (Kemp, 2007;Rajyaguru et al, 2013). In B. anynana, females make their choice based on the male's pheromones (Nieberding et al, 2012) rather than on wing colors.…”