Giving eyespots a shiner: Pharmacologic manipulation of the Io moth wing pattern

Andrei Sourakov

doi:10.12688/f1000research.12258.1

Abstract

Our knowledge of wing pattern formation in Lepidoptera has advanced significantly in recent years due to the careful examination of several groups of butterflies. The eyespot is a prominent feature of Lepidoptera wing pattern, especially in the family Saturniidae. The present study examined how sulfated polysaccharides, which are known to simulate cold shock effect in nymphalid butterflies, affected the wing pattern formation of the Io moth, Automeris io (Saturniidae). Prepupae and pupae of this species were subjected to injections of heparin and cold shock. While the cold shock had little to no effect on wing pattern, the aberrations resulting from heparin injections consisted of moderate to profound increases in melanism around the eyespots. The resulting aberrations are dubbed 'Black Eye' and 'Comet Eye.' Most other known aberrations of Automeris io eyespots are summarized, illustrated and named.

Highlights

While our understanding of the mechanisms involved in butterfly wing pattern development has been increasing exponentially in the recent two decades, the work has been largely limited to butterflies such as Junonia, Heliconius, Papilio and Bicyclus
While most of the pupae that were injected did not emerge, one female with a strongly modified wing pattern emerged from a pupa injected with 5mg of heparin (Figure 1A.i)
“Winking eye” Figure 3E – blue circles forming eyespots are of uneven size on left and right wings control sibling female is illustrated in Figures 1B.i and B.ii for comparison

Summary

Introduction

While our understanding of the mechanisms involved in butterfly wing pattern development has been increasing exponentially in the recent two decades, the work has been largely limited to butterflies such as Junonia, Heliconius, Papilio and Bicyclus. Keywords Eyespots, wing pattern, Lepidoptera, heparin, phenotypic plasticity, melanism, butterflies, moths Serfas & Caroll (2005) first demonstrated that injections of heparin into the early pupal stage can simulate cold shock and alter wing patterns in similar ways.

Results

Conclusion