De Keyser Rien, Breuker Casper J, Hails Rosemary S, Dennis Roger L H, Shreeve Tim G
Centre for Ecology, Environment and Conservation, Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom.
Evolutionary Developmental Biology Research Group, Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2015 Apr 29;10(4):e0122623. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122623. eCollection 2015.
We examined the roles of wing melanisation, weight, and basking posture in thermoregulation in Polyommatus Icarus, a phenotypically variable and protandrous member of the diverse Polyommatinae (Lycaenidae). Under controlled experimental conditions, approximating to marginal environmental conditions for activity in the field (= infrequent flight, long duration basking periods), warming rates are maximised with fully open wings and maximum body temperatures are dependent on weight. Variation in wing melanisation within and between sexes has no effect on warming rates; males and females which differ in melanisation had similar warming rates. Posture also affected cooling rates, consistent with cooling being dependent on convective heat loss. We hypothesise that for this small sized butterfly, melanisation has little or no effect on thermoregulation. This may be a factor contributing to the diversity of wing colours in the Polyommatinae. Because of the importance of size for thermoregulation in this small butterfly, requirements for attaining a suitable size to confer thermal stability in adults may also be a factor influencing larval feeding rates, development time and patterns of voltinism. Our findings indicate that commonly accepted views of the importance of melanisation, posture and size to thermoregulation, developed using medium and large sized butterflies, are not necessarily applicable to small sized butterflies.
我们研究了翅膀黑化、体重和晒太阳姿势在伊卡洛斯蓝灰蝶体温调节中的作用。伊卡洛斯蓝灰蝶是种类繁多的眼灰蝶亚科（灰蝶科）中一个表型多变且雄性先熟的成员。在近似野外活动边缘环境条件（即飞行不频繁、晒太阳时间长）的受控实验条件下，翅膀完全展开时升温速率最大，最高体温取决于体重。两性内部和两性之间翅膀黑化程度的变化对升温速率没有影响；黑化程度不同的雄性和雌性具有相似的升温速率。姿势也会影响降温速率，这与降温取决于对流散热一致。我们推测，对于这种小型蝴蝶来说，黑化对体温调节几乎没有影响。这可能是导致眼灰蝶亚科翅膀颜色多样性的一个因素。由于体型大小对这种小型蝴蝶体温调节很重要，成虫达到赋予热稳定性的合适体型的要求，可能也是影响幼虫取食速率、发育时间和化性模式的一个因素。我们的研究结果表明，使用中型和大型蝴蝶得出的关于黑化、姿势和体型大小对体温调节重要性的普遍观点，不一定适用于小型蝴蝶。
