Evolution of novel mimicry polymorphisms through Haldane’s sieve and rare recombination

Origins of phenotypic novelty represent a paradox. Maintenance of distinct, canalized morphs usually requires a complex array of polymorphisms, whose co-retention requires a genetic architecture resistant to recombination, involving inversions and master regulators. Here, we reveal how such a constraining architecture can still accommodate novel morphs in evolving polymorphisms using the classic polymorphic Batesian mimicry in Papilio polytes , whose supergene-like genetic architecture is maintained in a large inversion. We show that rapidly evolving alleles of the conserved gene, doublesex , within this inversion underlie the genetic basis of this polymorphism. Using precisely dated phylogeny and breeding experiments, we show that novel adaptive mimetic morphs and underlying alleles evolved in a sequentially dominant manner, undergoing selective sweeps in the mimetic species as predicted under Haldane’s sieve. Furthermore, we discovered that mimetic forms share precise inversion breakp..., , # Evolution of novel mimicry polymorphisms through Haldane’s sieve and rare recombination

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.sqv9s4nf4](10.5061/dryad.sqv9s4nf4)

#### **Corresponding author information**

Name: Krushnamegh Kunte
ORCID: [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3860-6118](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3860-6118)
Affiliation: National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bengaluru 560065, India
email: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

#### **Alternative contact information**

Name: Riddhi Deshmukh
ORCID: [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7634-2029](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7634-2029%5C)
Affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
email: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

## Description of the data and file structure

The folder contains alignment files, partition files, and tree files for the two *doublesex* phylogenies reconstru...,