Data from: Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly

Color vision is thought to play a key role in the evolution of animal
coloration, while achromatic vision is rarely considered as a mechanism
for species recognition. We examined the eyeshine and photopigments of
adult Adelpha fessonia butterflies (Nymphalidae: Lepidoptera), and the
ultraviolet, blue and long-wavelength opsin sequences of 22 species of
Adepha and Limenitis butterflies. Opsin sequences were
extracted from individual RNA-seq transcriptomes of 24 adult male and
female butterflies (brain + eye), combined with previously published
sequences, and aligned for phylogenetic analysis. We measured reflectance
spectra of white, orange and brown dorsal wing color patches of individual
wild-caught female and male Adelpha fessonia and co-mimetic female and
male A. basiloides butterflies. We also measured in vivo long
wavelength rhodopsin dark spectra for A.
fessonia and A. californica, and pupillary
sensitivity for A. fessonia. We then used these
reflectance spectra data in color space models and calculations of
chromatic and achromatic discriminabilities (JNDs) of birds and
butterflies. Taken together, our data suggest that the dorsal wing color
patches of Adelpha fessonia and A. basiloides are likely
indiscriminable to both birds and butterflies using both chromatic and
achromatic channels.