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Habitat segregation among mimetic ithomiine butterflies (Nymphalidae)

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Abstract

The extensive wing pattern diversity observed among sympatric unpalatable mimetic butterflies is difficult to explain. Diversity is a paradox because selection by predators is expected to drive local species to use the same aposematic patterns. Habitat segregation among mimicry complexes has been suggested as a hypothesis to explain how diversity could be maintained. However, very few studies have tested this hypothesis. To test whether mimicry complexes are associated with particular habitats, I sampled a diverse assemblage of ithomiine butterflies from eastern Ecuador comprising nine discrete mimicry complexes. Butterflies were sampled in four habitats varying along a gradient of succession. A total of 43 species and 902 individuals were sampled. Ithomiine species richness and abundance were lowest in open habitats, and habitat preferences were documented for many species. Mimicry complexes exhibited significant habitat differences supporting the role of habitat segregation in maintaining mimetic diversity. However, there was obvious overlap among mimicry complexes, particularly involving the two numerically dominant patterns at the site. The pattern of segregation appears to be driven by common species, with relatively little evidence that the distribution of rarer species matches that of the more abundant species. Thus, habitat segregation is likely to play a role in the evolution of mimetic diversity as a result of segregated abundant model species, but the effect is probably weak and other factors are also important.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by fellowships from the UC Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology, Section of Integrative Biology and Institute for Latin American Studies at UT Austin, Explorers Club, Sigma Xi and Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. Thank you to the communities of Sani Isla and Pilche, and the management and staff of La Selva Jungle Lodge for facilitating this work, and to the Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales in Quito for help obtaining research permits. Thanks to M. deVries and M. Medeiros for reading early drafts, and to P. J. DeVries, R. Dudley, R. Gillespie, M. Kronforst, J. McGuire and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Ryan I. Hill

    Present address: Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, 52 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

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  1. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 3060 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Ryan I. Hill

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Hill, R.I. Habitat segregation among mimetic ithomiine butterflies (Nymphalidae). Evol Ecol 24, 273–285 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-009-9305-5

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