Summary
The pupal colour dimorphism of Eurytides marcellus is nearly lost when the species is forced to pupate on a clear plastic substrate. Selection for extreme brown and green pupal colour under these circumstances was successful in a single generation in 3 out of 5 and 7 out of 10 lines respectively, but selection for an intermediate colour gave no response in 3 out of 3 lines. The results support a threshold model of pupal colour dimorphism in this species, with “sensitivity” to substrate characteristics being the underlying continuous variable. The consequently strong environmental component of variation in pupal colour in natural populations thus serves to maintain the genetic variation, since natural selection will be only weakly stabilizing.
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Hazel, W., West, D. Pupal colour dimorphism in swallowtail butterflies as a threshold trait: Selection in Eurytides marcellus (Cramer). Heredity 49, 295–301 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1982.103
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1982.103
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