Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38736286›Full record

ArticleEvolution; international journal of organic evolution2024

Selection drives divergence of eye morphology in sympatric Heliconius butterflies.

Daniel Shane Wright, Juliana Rodriguez-Fuentes, Lisa Ammer, Kathy Darragh, Chi-Yun Kuo, W Owen McMillan, Chris D Jiggins, Stephen H Montgomery, Richard M Merrill

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Evolution of compound eye cell types shapes visual behaviors acrossbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Sex-limited diversification of the eye in Heliconius cydno butterflies.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026
    Article
  5. Cellular innovations and diversity in the lepidopteran compound eye.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Mutualisms within light microhabitats are associated with sensory convergence in a mimetic butterfly community.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Daniel Shane WrightDivision of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-4066-6718
Juliana Rodriguez-FuentesDivision of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-9825-9912
Lisa AmmerDivision of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Kathy DarraghDepartment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-9215-014X
Chi-Yun KuoDivision of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-8533-9358
W Owen McMillanSmithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama.ORCID 0000-0003-2805-2745
Chris D JigginsDepartment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-7809-062X
Stephen H MontgomerySmithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama.ORCID 0000-0002-5474-5695
Richard M MerrillDivision of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-4527-9298

Funding

Emmy Noether Fellowship ME 4845/1-1European Research Council 851040Independent Research Fellowship NE/N014936/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

When populations experience different sensory conditions, natural selection may favor sensory system divergence, affecting peripheral structures and/or downstream neural pathways. We characterized the outer eye morphology of sympatric Heliconius butterflies from different forest types and their first-generation reciprocal hybrids to test for adaptive visual system divergence and hybrid disruption. In Panama, Heliconius cydno occurs in closed forests, whereas Heliconius melpomene resides at the forest edge. Among wild individuals, H. cydno has larger eyes than H. melpomene, and there are heritable, habitat-associated differences in the visual brain structures that exceed neutral divergence expectations. Notably, hybrids have intermediate neural phenotypes, suggesting disruption. To test for similar effects in the visual periphery, we reared both species and their hybrids in common garden conditions. We confirm that H. cydno has larger eyes and provide new evidence that this is driven by selection. Hybrid eye morphology is more H. melpomene-like despite body size being intermediate, contrasting with neural trait intermediacy. Overall, our results suggest that eye morphology differences between H. cydno and H. melpomene are adaptive and that hybrids may suffer fitness costs due to a mismatch between the peripheral visual structures and previously described neural traits that could affect visual performance.

Indexed as

ButterfliesSelection, GeneticSympatryAnimalsEyeFemaleHybridization, GeneticMalePanamaadaptationhybrid disruptionP STvisual system

Identifiers

PMID38736286
PMCPMC7616201

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.