Chapters authored
Synergistic Damage Response of the Double-Focus Eyespot in the Hindwing of the Peacock Pansy Butterfly
Eyespot color patterns in butterfly wings are determined by the putative morphogenic signals from organizers. Previous experiments using physical damage to the forewing eyespots of the peacock pansy butterfly, Junonia almana (Linnaeus, 1758), suggested that the morphogenic signals dynamically interact with each other, involving enhancement of activation signals and interactions between activation and inhibitory signals. Here, we focused on the large double-focus fusion eyespot on the hindwing of J. almana to test the involvement of the proposed signal interactions. Early damage at a single focus of the prospective double-focus eyespot produced a smaller but circular eyespot, suggesting the existence of synergistic interactions between the signals from two sources. Late damage at a single focus reduced the size of the inner core disk but simultaneously enlarged the outermost black ring. Damage at two nearby sites in the background induced an extensive black area, possibly as a result of the synergistic enhancement of the two induced signals. These results confirmed the previous forewing results and provided further evidence for the long-range and synergistic interactive nature of the morphogenic signals that may be explained by a reaction-diffusion mechanism as a part of the induction model for color-pattern formation in butterfly wings.
Part of the book: Lepidoptera