Stavenga Doekele G, Leertouwer Heinrich L, Arikawa Kentaro
Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Science, University of Groningen, NL9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
Research Center for Integrative Evolutionary Science, Sokendai-Hayama, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Hayama 240-0193, Japan.
Insects. 2023 Feb 26;14(3):234. doi: 10.3390/insects14030234.
The light reflected by the dorsal side of butterfly wings often functions as a signal for, e.g., mate choice, thermoregulation, and/or predator deterrence, while the ventral wing reflections are generally used for crypsis and camouflage. Here, we propose that transmitted light can also have an important role in visual signaling because, in many butterfly species, the dorsal and ventral wing sides are similarly patterned and locally more or less translucent. Extreme examples are the Japanese yellow swallowtail ( Linnaeus, 1758) and the Yellow glassy tiger ( Fabricius, 1787). Their wings exhibit a similar color pattern in reflected and transmitted light, which allows enhanced visual signaling, especially in flight. Contrasting cases in which the coloration and patterning of dorsal and ventral wings strongly differ are the papilionid Linnaeus, 1758, and the pierid Fabricius, 1775. The wings observed in reflected or transmitted light then show very different color patterns. Wing translucence thus will strongly affect a butterfly's visual signal.
蝴蝶翅膀背面反射的光通常具有多种功能，例如用于配偶选择、体温调节和/或威慑捕食者，而翅膀腹面的反射光一般用于拟态和伪装。在此，我们提出透射光在视觉信号传递中也可能发挥重要作用，因为在许多蝴蝶物种中，翅膀的背面和腹面图案相似，且局部或多或少呈半透明状。极端的例子是日本黄凤蝶（林奈，1758年）和黄透翅蛾（法布尔，1787年）。它们的翅膀在反射光和透射光下呈现出相似的颜色图案，这增强了视觉信号传递，尤其是在飞行时。相反，凤蝶科的柑橘凤蝶（林奈，1758年）和粉蝶科的菜粉蝶（法布尔，1775年），其翅膀背面和腹面的颜色及图案差异很大。在反射光或透射光下观察到的翅膀会呈现出非常不同的颜色图案。因此，翅膀的半透明性会强烈影响蝴蝶的视觉信号。
