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The role of wing veins in colour pattern development in the butterfly Papilio xuthus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Publication ,  Journal Article
Koch, PB; Nijhout, HF
Published in: European Journal of Entomology
January 1, 2002

Naturally occuring veinless specimen of the swallowtail Papilio xuthus show an extremely aberrant colour pattern. In spite of the fact that we have no breeding data, these veinless specimen are provisionally called veins-reduced mutant. In these mutants seven longitudinal veins of the fore wing and five of the hind wing are absent. The absence of wing veins is associated with a loss of the broad black venous stripes that normally are present along the proximal portion of the veins. In addition, missing veins cause a loss of the dislocation of black bands in adjacent wing cells, so that what are discrete black segments in normal wings become continuous bands in the veinless wing. Computer simulations show that the morphology of the striped patterns on both the veinless and veined wing can be explained if the wing margin acts as an inductive source of pattern formation and the veins act simply as boundaries to the propagation of the signal from the wing margin. The vein-dependent patterns by contrast, require that the veins act as inductive sources, at least along their proximal portion. This dual role of wing veins is consistent with prior observation on the biology of colour pattern formation. The unique veinless colour pattern strongly supports the hypothesis that the wing margin is the dominant organiser of colour pattern in this species, and possibly in other Papilionidae.

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Published In

European Journal of Entomology

DOI

EISSN

1802-8829

ISSN

1210-5759

Publication Date

January 1, 2002

Volume

99

Issue

1

Start / End Page

67 / 72

Related Subject Headings

  • Entomology
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 0608 Zoology
 

Citation

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Koch, P. B., & Nijhout, H. F. (2002). The role of wing veins in colour pattern development in the butterfly Papilio xuthus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). European Journal of Entomology, 99(1), 67–72. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2002.012
Koch, P. B., and H. F. Nijhout. “The role of wing veins in colour pattern development in the butterfly Papilio xuthus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae).” European Journal of Entomology 99, no. 1 (January 1, 2002): 67–72. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2002.012.
Koch PB, Nijhout HF. The role of wing veins in colour pattern development in the butterfly Papilio xuthus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). European Journal of Entomology. 2002 Jan 1;99(1):67–72.
Koch, P. B., and H. F. Nijhout. “The role of wing veins in colour pattern development in the butterfly Papilio xuthus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae).” European Journal of Entomology, vol. 99, no. 1, Jan. 2002, pp. 67–72. Scopus, doi:10.14411/eje.2002.012.
Koch PB, Nijhout HF. The role of wing veins in colour pattern development in the butterfly Papilio xuthus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). European Journal of Entomology. 2002 Jan 1;99(1):67–72.

Published In

European Journal of Entomology

DOI

EISSN

1802-8829

ISSN

1210-5759

Publication Date

January 1, 2002

Volume

99

Issue

1

Start / End Page

67 / 72

Related Subject Headings

  • Entomology
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 0608 Zoology