Fig. 7: Wing reflectance spectra of Adelpha fessonia and A. basiloides plotted in the trichromatic color space of Adelpha fessonia and the tetrachromatic color spaces of the UV-sensitive and violet-sensitive bird visual systems, and just noticeable differences (JNDs) estimated from the corresponding visual models.
From: Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly
The dorsal orange patches and white stripes of mimetic Adelpha fessonia and A. basiloides butterflies are likely indistinguishable to Adelpha fessonia and their avian predators in the wild. The dorsal orange patch of A. fessonia (orange dots, n = 25 independent measurements) and A. basiloides (pink dots, n = 35), and the dorsal white stripes of A. fessonia (white dots, n = 23) and A. basiloides (blue dots, n = 27) mapped in the trichromatic color space of A the A. fessonia visual system, and the tetrahedral color spaces of B the violet-sensitive and C the UV-sensitive, avian visual systems. For A. fessonia, UV = ultraviolet, B = blue, and L = LW rhodopsin. For birds, UV = ultraviolet, V = violet, SW = blue, M = RH2, L = LWS rhodopsin. Right: Distances between the two species’ orange and white wing color patches as viewed through D the A. fessonia visual system, E the violet-sensitive, and F the UV-sensitive avian visual systems. Color distances are in units of chromatic contrast (JND) between A. fessonia and A. basiloides wing colors with a JND threshold (dotted line) of 1. Open circles represent mean JND values estimated from 1000 bootstrapped replicates with black bars representing 95% confidence intervals. Orange represents individual bootstrapped JNDs derived from comparisons of A. fessonia and A. basiloides orange wing colors and dark gray represents individual bootstrapped JNDs derived from comparisons of A. fessonia and A. basiloides white wing colors. Sample sizes of wing reflectance spectra used to estimate these mean JNDs via bootstrapping are indicated in parentheses with numbers for A. fessonia on the right and numbers for A. basiloides on the left. LFW = left forewing, RFW = right forewing, LHW = left hindwing.
