Abstract
At the southern limit of its range the endangered butterfly Coenonympha oedippus inhabits grasslands (wet, dry) that differ significantly in the abundance of its larval hostplants (wet > dry) and mean annual air temperature (wet dry) or in degree, in the two sexes the relative area of eyespots on hindwing had opposite patterns (males: dry > wet; females: wet > dry) and was more pronounced in males than in females. The differences in wing shape between ecotypes were detected only in the hindwings of males, with more rounded apex in the dry than in the wet ecotype. We discuss the life-history traits, behavioural strategies and selection mechanisms, which largely account for the sex- and ecotype-specific variation in wing morphology.
Highlights
Wing morphology commonly varies among species and populations and even between the two sexes
The GM analysis indicates that females have slightly larger forewings than males, we found no significant differences in the hindwing sizes of the sexes (CS: NS; Table 2)
We compared the morphologic traits of wings of individuals of C. oedippus from wet and dry habitats
Summary
Wing morphology commonly varies among species and populations and even between the two sexes. The most obvious function of wings, their morphological traits, such as size, shape, colour and pattern, have a number of interacting functions including thermoregulation and intra- and interspecific communication (Shreeve et al, 2009). Wing size and shape are related to flight (Srygley & Chai, 1990; Merckx & Van Dyck, 2006), pigmentation or degree of melanisation to thermoregulation (Van Dyck & Wiklund, 2002), specific ventral and dorsal position of bands and eyespots to intraspecific communication (Robertson & Monteiro, 2005; Oliver et al, 2009), predator avoidance and evasion (Dennis et al, 1986; Ho et al, 2016). Multifunctional character of butterfly wings affects a number of fitness components
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