Annales Musei historico-naturalis hungarici

Author(s): Bálint, Zs., Moser, A., Kertész, K., Biró, L. P. & Parker, A. R.
Title: A supposition: structural colours resulting from both natural and sexual selection on an individual wing in the butterfly genus Cyanophrys (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
Year: 2009
Volume: 101
Pages: 63-79.

Abstract: Spectral measurements of 29 individuals from five superficially similar species of Cyanophrys CLENCH, 1961 reveal that the blue structural colour of the dorsal fore wings is species and sex dependent, while the green structural colour of the ventral hind wings is mutual. The results suggest that the blue colouration functions as a conspecific signal during courtship and/or mate recognition, considering also that several species of Cyanophrys co-exist in the same environment and appear morphologically similar. The resting places of the females and perching sites of themales of Cyanophrys are usually green leaf surfaces. While resting/perching their wings are closed. Therefore the ventral green colouration probably serves a generalized camouflage function. Consequently the nanostructures responsible for the blue colouration are most probably under the influence of sexual selection, whereas those causing the green colour are affected by natural selection. With 26 figures and one table.
Keywords: structural colour, butterflies, photonics, nanostructures, natural selection, sexual selection.
Subject: zoology

Journal: Annales historico-naturales Musei nationalis hungarici
Journal abbreviation: Annls hist.-nat. Mus. nat. hung.
ISSN: 0521-4726
Publisher: Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest
Editor(s): Matskási, I. & Merkl, O.