Phenotypic plasticity in tropical butterflies is linked to climatic seasonality on a macroevolutionary scale.

Abstract excerpt

Phenotypic plasticity can be adaptive in fluctuating environments by providing rapid environment-phenotype matching and this applies particularly in seasonal environments. African Bicyclus butterflies have repeatedly colonized seasonal savannahs from ancestral forests around the late Miocene, and many species now exhibit seasonal polyphenism. On a macroevolutionary scale, it can be expected that savannah species...

Topics

• Animals
• Butterflies
• Seasons
• Biological Evolution
• Phenotype
• Tropical Climate
• Phylogeny
• Wings, Animal
• Adaptation, Physiological