The Role of Wing Pigmentation, UV and Fluorescence as Signals in a Neotropical Damselfly

Ferreira, Rhainer Guillermo Nascimento; Therézio, Eralci M.; Gehlen, Marcelo Henrique; Bispo, Pitágoras da Conceição; Marletta, Alexandre

doi:10.1007/s10905-013-9406-4

Cited by 36 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Therefore, UV is likely not a functional component of the sex identity signal in this species. Our results differ from findings from another territorial damselfly, Mnesarete pudica, in which males were less likely to react towards mature, UV-reduced females relative to controls (Guillermo-Ferreira et al, 2014). In M. pudica, UV reflectance of wing coloration is likely a signal of sexual maturity because both juvenile males and females have significantly lower UV reflectance than sexually mature adults.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Ultraviolet wing signal affects territorial contest outcome in a sexually dimorphic damselfly

Fincke

2015

Animal Behaviour

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Ultraviolet wing signal affects territorial contest outcome in a sexually dimorphic damselfly

Fincke

2015

Animal Behaviour

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“…Melanin based wing pigmentation (Stavenga et al 2012) is considered to be a sexual ornament that indicates male quality (Contreras-Garduño et al, 2006 and influences territorial contests (Guillermo-Ferreira and Del-Claro, 2011a;Guillermo-Ferreira et al, 2015), mate-choice (Siva-Jothy, 1999) and mate recognition (Frantsevich and Mokrushov, 1984;Anderson and Grether, 2010;Guillermo-Ferreira et al, 2014). For instance, the structural colouration in Megaloprepus caerulatus (Drury, 1782) (Zygoptera: Pseudostigmatidae) was suggested to act as a cue for sexual recognition and male quality (Schultz and Fincke, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Males were tethered to a cotton line and to a wood stick (Guillermo-Ferreira and Bispo, 2012;Guillermo-Ferreira et al, 2014), and presented to territorial males. Tethered males were divided in two groups: (i) sham control, with wing colouration manipulated by painting the tips ($10% of wing area) of the wings on the dorsal surface with a black marker (Faber-Castell) that did not reflect UV light; (ii) treatment, the wings were painted from the tip to the nodus ($55% of wing area), leaving the basal part of the wings with the original blue colouration.…”

Section: The Role Of the Blue Colouration In Territorial Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanism of the wing colouration in the dragonfly Zenithoptera lanei (Odonata: Libellulidae) and its role in intraspecific communication

Ferreira

Bispo

Appel

et al. 2015

Journal of Insect Physiology

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Zenithoptera dragonflies are known for their remarkable bluish colouration on their wings and unique male behaviour of folding and unfolding their wings while perching. However, nothing is known about the optical properties of such colouration and its structural and functional background. In this paper, we aimed to study the relationship between the wing membrane ultrastructure, surface microstructure and colour spectra of male wings in Zenithoptera lanei and test the hypothesis that colouration functions as a signal in territorial fights between males. The results show that the specific wing colouration derives from interference in alternating layers of melanized and unmelanized cuticle in the wing membrane, combined with diffuse scattering in two different layers of wax crystals on the dorsal wing surface, one lower layer of long filaments, and one upper layer of leaf-shaped crystals. The results also show that the thicker wax coverage of the dorsal surface of the wings results in increased brightness and reduced chroma. In the field experiments, we have demonstrated that there is a reduction of aggressive reactions of rivals towards individuals with experimentally reduced amount of blue wing colouration.

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“…In spiders, lab studies indicate that fluorescence plays a role in male mate choice while UV plays a role in female mate choice (Lim et al, 2007). A paper investigating UV and fluorescence in damselfly signaling (Guillermo-Ferreira et al, 2014) concluded that there might be a possible contribution of fluorescence to the signal; however, important controls necessary to confirm this were absent.…”

Section: Fluorescence Does Not Function As a Signalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultraviolet and yellow reflectance but not fluorescence is important for visual discrimination of conspecifics by Heliconius erato

Finkbeiner

Fishman

Osorio

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Toxic Heliconius butterflies have yellow hindwing bars that -unlike those of their closest relatives -reflect ultraviolet (UV) and long wavelength light, and also fluoresce. The pigment in the yellow scales is 3-hydroxy-DL-kynurenine (3-OHK), which is found in the hair and scales of a variety of animals. In other butterflies like pierids with color schemes characterized by independent sources of variation in UV and human-visible yellow/orange, behavioral experiments have generally implicated the UV component as most relevant to mate choice. This has not been addressed in Heliconius butterflies, where variation exists in analogous color components, but moreover where fluorescence due to 3-OHK could also contribute to yellow wing coloration. In addition, the potential cost due to predator visibility is largely unknown for the analogous well-studied pierid butterfly species. In field studies with butterfly paper models, we show that both UV and 3-OHK yellow act as signals for H. erato when compared with models lacking UV or resembling ancestral Eueides yellow, respectively, but attack rates by birds do not differ significantly between the models. Furthermore, measurement of the quantum yield and reflectance spectra of 3-OHK indicates that fluorescence does not contribute to the visual signal under broad-spectrum illumination. Our results suggest that the use of 3-OHK pigmentation instead of ancestral yellow was driven by sexual selection rather than predation.

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The Role of Wing Pigmentation, UV and Fluorescence as Signals in a Neotropical Damselfly

Cited by 36 publications

References 61 publications

Ultraviolet wing signal affects territorial contest outcome in a sexually dimorphic damselfly

Ultraviolet wing signal affects territorial contest outcome in a sexually dimorphic damselfly

Mechanism of the wing colouration in the dragonfly Zenithoptera lanei (Odonata: Libellulidae) and its role in intraspecific communication

Ultraviolet and yellow reflectance but not fluorescence is important for visual discrimination of conspecifics by Heliconius erato

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