Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs
Mating behaviour and predation avoidance in Heliconius 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...
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doaj-044f6567ac6c4dda8fe349db0286d0932020-11-24T23:37:03ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592017-09-015e382110.7717/peerj.3821Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographsDenise Dalbosco Dell’Aglio0Derya Akkaynak1W. Owen McMillan2Chris D. Jiggins3Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomSmithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, PanamaSmithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, PanamaDepartment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomMating behaviour and predation avoidance in Heliconius 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 Heliconius melpomene rosina 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.https://peerj.com/articles/3821.pdfAgingColour analysisCalibrated imagesDigital cameraPhotographyColouration |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Denise Dalbosco Dell’Aglio Derya Akkaynak W. Owen McMillan Chris D. Jiggins |
spellingShingle |
Denise Dalbosco Dell’Aglio Derya Akkaynak W. Owen McMillan Chris D. Jiggins Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs PeerJ Aging Colour analysis Calibrated images Digital camera Photography Colouration |
author_facet |
Denise Dalbosco Dell’Aglio Derya Akkaynak W. Owen McMillan Chris D. Jiggins |
author_sort |
Denise Dalbosco Dell’Aglio |
title |
Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs |
title_short |
Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs |
title_full |
Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs |
title_fullStr |
Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Estimating the age of Heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs |
title_sort |
estimating the age of heliconius butterflies from calibrated photographs |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
series |
PeerJ |
issn |
2167-8359 |
publishDate |
2017-09-01 |
description |
Mating behaviour and predation avoidance in Heliconius 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 Heliconius melpomene rosina 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. |
topic |
Aging Colour analysis Calibrated images Digital camera Photography Colouration |
url |
https://peerj.com/articles/3821.pdf |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT denisedalboscodellaglio estimatingtheageofheliconiusbutterfliesfromcalibratedphotographs AT deryaakkaynak estimatingtheageofheliconiusbutterfliesfromcalibratedphotographs AT wowenmcmillan estimatingtheageofheliconiusbutterfliesfromcalibratedphotographs AT chrisdjiggins estimatingtheageofheliconiusbutterfliesfromcalibratedphotographs |
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1725521225033187328 |