Mate preferences act independently on different elements of visual signals in Heliconius butterflies

Mating cues are often comprised of several elements, which can act independently, or in concert to attract a suitable partner. Individual elements may also function in other contexts, such as predator defence or camouflage. In Heliconius butterflies, wing patterns comprise several individual colour pattern elements, which advertise the butterflies’ toxicity to predators. These wing patterns are also mating cues and males predominantly court females that possess the same wing pattern as their own. However, it is not known whether male preference is based on the full wing pattern or only individual pattern elements. We compared preferences of male H. erato lativitta between female models with the full wing pattern and those with some pattern elements removed. We found no differences in preference between the full wing pattern model and a model with pattern elements removed, indicating that the complete composition of all elements is not essential to the mating signal. Wing pattern prefere..., Butterfly collection and rearing.
All experiments took place in insectaries at Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Tena, Ecuador (Figure 1, red diamond) between November 2021 and January 2022. H. erato lativitta were collected in the southeast of Napo province, Ecuador, whereas H. erato cyrbia and H. himera came from insectary populations established from individuals collected in southwest Ecuador (Figure 1). Butterfly stocks were maintained in separate 2 x 2 x 2m cages for each sex and species, with 10-50 individuals per cage. Each cage was supplied with nectar-bearing flowers, and ~20% sugar solution with supplementary pollen for additional nutrition (Gilbert 1972), and Passiflora punctata shoots for oviposition in female cages. Caterpillars from these stocks were reared indoors and fed ad libitum on Passiflora punctata.
Mounted female wing models.
To make the female wing models, wings from sacrificed H. erato lativitta females were removed and subsequently washed for 5 minutes in d..., , # Mate preferences act independently on different elements of visual signals in *Heliconius* butterflies

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm383q](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm383q)

### Preference for multiple pattern elements: data analysis

The purpose of this analysis was to investigate male preference for multiple pattern elements between species of *Heliconius* butterflies. Data in this analysis come from behaviourial trials conducted between October 2021 and February 2022, in which courtship behaviours of 3 taxa of male *Heliconius* butterflies towards 3 types of female models were recorded. The models in the trials were manipulated to remove some elements of the wing pattern, to see whether there was a difference in male behaviour based on different wing pattern elements. Behaviours were recorded per minute of the trial, with only one behaviour per male per model recorded per minute. Counts of the number of behaviour per male per trial are analysed to find if males prefer...

求偶信号通常由多种元素构成，这些元素既可以独立发挥作用，也可以协同作用以吸引合适的配偶。单个元素还可在其他情境中行使功能，例如天敌防御或伪装。在袖蝶属（Heliconius）蝴蝶中，翅色斑纹包含多个独立的色彩图案元素，这些元素可向天敌警示该蝴蝶的毒性。这类翅色斑纹同时也是求偶信号，雄性偏好与自身拥有相同翅色斑纹的雌性进行求偶。然而目前尚不清楚雄性的偏好是基于完整的翅色斑纹，还是仅针对单个图案元素。我们对比了红带袖蝶厄瓜多尔亚种（H. erato lativitta）雄性对两类雌性模型的偏好：一类带有完整翅色斑纹，另一类移除了部分图案元素。实验结果显示，完整翅色斑纹模型与移除部分图案元素的模型之间，雄性偏好并无显著差异，这表明所有图案元素的完整组合并非求偶信号的必需组成部分。翅色斑纹偏好……
蝴蝶采集与饲养。
所有实验均于2021年11月至2022年1月期间，在厄瓜多尔特纳市的亚马逊区域伊基阿姆大学（Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam）的昆虫饲养室中开展（图1红色菱形标记处）。红带袖蝶厄瓜多尔亚种采集自厄瓜多尔纳波省东南部，而红带袖蝶赛比亚亚种（H. erato cyrbia）和希梅拉袖蝶（H. himera）则来自以厄瓜多尔西南部采集的个体建立的昆虫饲养种群（图1）。蝴蝶种群按性别和物种分别饲养于2×2×2米的笼舍中，每个笼舍饲养10至50只个体。每个笼舍均配备有蜜源花卉、约20%浓度的糖溶液辅以补充花粉以提供额外营养（Gilbert 1972），以及西番莲（Passiflora punctata）枝条供雌性产卵。该种群的幼虫在室内饲养，可自由取食西番莲叶片。
雌性翅部标本模型制作。
为制作雌性翅模型，我们从处死的红带袖蝶厄瓜多尔亚种雌性个体上取下翅膀，随后在……中清洗5分钟。
# 袖蝶属蝴蝶视觉信号的不同元素可独立影响配偶偏好

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm383q](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm383q)

### 多图案元素偏好：数据分析

本分析旨在探究不同袖蝶属物种的雄性对多种图案元素的配偶偏好。本分析所用数据来自2021年10月至2022年2月开展的行为学实验，实验中记录了3类袖蝶属雄性个体对3类雌性模型的求偶行为。实验中对雌性模型的翅色斑纹进行了部分元素移除处理，以探究雄性行为是否因翅色斑纹元素的差异而产生变化。实验期间每分钟记录一次行为，且每只雄性针对每个模型每分钟仅记录一次行为。我们通过分析每只雄性在单次实验中的行为次数，以探究雄性是否存在偏好……