Dalbosco Dell'Aglio Denise, Akkaynak Derya, McMillan W Owen, Jiggins Chris D
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama.
PeerJ. 2017 Sep 27;5:e3821. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3821. eCollection 2017.
Mating behaviour and predation avoidance in involve visual colour signals; however, there is considerable inter-individual phenotypic variation in the appearance of colours. In particular, the red pigment varies from bright crimson to faded red. It has been thought that this variation is primarily due to pigment fading with age, although this has not been explicitly tested. Previous studies have shown the importance of red patterns in mate choice and that birds and butterflies might perceive these small colour differences. Using digital photography and calibrated colour images, we investigated whether the hue variation in the forewing dorsal red band of corresponds with age. We found that the red hue and age were highly associated, suggesting that red colour can indeed be used as a proxy for age in the study of wild-caught butterflies.
[某种蝴蝶]的交配行为和避敌行为涉及视觉颜色信号；然而，颜色外观存在相当大的个体间表型变异。特别是红色素，从鲜艳的深红色到褪色的红色各不相同。人们一直认为这种变异主要是由于色素随年龄褪色，尽管这尚未得到明确验证。先前的研究表明红色图案在配偶选择中的重要性，并且鸟类和蝴蝶可能会察觉到这些微小的颜色差异。我们使用数码摄影和校准后的彩色图像，研究了[某种蝴蝶]前翅背面红色带的色调变化是否与年龄相关。我们发现红色调与年龄高度相关，这表明在研究野生捕获的蝴蝶时，红色确实可以用作年龄的指标。
