Sensory weighting reflects changing patterns of visual investment during ecological divergence in Heliconius butterflies

Integrating information across sensory modalities enables animals to orchestrate a wide range of complex behaviours. The relative importance placed on one sensory modality over another reflects the reliability of cues in a particular environment and corresponding differences in neural investment. As populations diverge across environmental gradients, the reliability of sensory cues may shift, favouring divergence in neural investment and sensory weighting. During their divergence across closed-forest and forest-edge habitats, Heliconius butterflies H. cydno and H. melpomene evolved distinct brain morphologies, with the former investing more in vision. Molecular and anatomical data suggest selection drove these changes, but their behavioural effects remain uncertain. We hypothesised that divergent investment in neuropils may alter sensory weighting during behavioural tasks. To address this, we trained individuals in an associative learning experiment using multimodal colour and odour cue..., , , # Sensory weighting reflects changing patterns of visual investment during ecological divergence in Heliconius butterflies

## Dataset Attribution and Usage

The authors respectfully request to be contacted by researchers interested in the re-use of these data so that the possibility of collaboration can be discussed. Contact Jose Borrero at [[e-mail] ](mailto:[e-mail])or [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

Suggested Citation: Jose Borrero, Elisa A Mogollon Perez, Daniel Shane Wright, Daniela Lozano, Geraldine Rueda-Munoz, Carolina Pardo-Diaz, Camilo Salazar, Stephen H Montgomery and Richard M Merrill (2024), Sensory weighting reflects changing patterns of visual investment during ecological divergence in *Heliconius* butterflies, Dryad, Dataset.

Corresponding preprint citation: Jose Borrero, Elisa A Mogollon Perez, Daniel Shane Wright, Daniela Lozano, Geraldine Rueda-Munoz, Carolina Pardo-Diaz, Camilo Salazar, Stephen H Montgomery, Richard M....