... is not well understood. The small white butterfly, Pieris rapae , has been demonstrated to exploit foliar polarized reflections, specifically the degree of linear polarization (DoLP), to recognize host plants. The well-described visual system of P. rapae includes several photoreceptor types (red, green, blue...

...Finlay J. Stewart; Michiyo Kinoshita; Kentaro Arikawa ABSTRACT The swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus can perceive the linear polarization of light. Using a novel polarization projection system, we recently demonstrated that P. xuthus can detect visual motion based on polarization contrast...

..., whether the use of parallax information is confined to specialised behaviours like these or represents a more general purpose sensory capability, is an open question. We investigate this issue in the foraging swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus , which we trained to associate a target presented...

... as sudden extensions (lengthening) of the abdominal segments at each spiracular microopening. * Author for correspondence ( katrin.jogar@emu.ee ) 28 5 2011 © 2011. 2011 oxygen uptake Pieris brassicae gas exchange cycle butterfly flutter coulometric respirometry...

... of the acoustic stimulus into a neural signal. The tropical butterfly Morpho peleides has an oval-shaped membrane at the base of the forewing with an unusual dome in the middle of the structure. We are testing the hypothesis that this unconventional anatomical arrangement determines the mechanical tuning...

...Marilou P. Sison-Mangus; Adriana D. Briscoe; Guillermo Zaccardi; Helge Knüttel; Almut Kelber SUMMARY The functional significance of gene duplication is rarely addressed at the level of animal behavior. Butterflies are excellent models in this regard because they can be trained and the use...

... and spectral properties. Here we investigate the extent to which Costa Rican butterflies of the family Nymphalidae exhibit polarized wing reflectance and evaluate the types of habitats in which the trait is commonly found. We also examine the degree of polarized reflectance of wing patterns in representative...

...Marilou P. Sison-Mangus; Gary D. Bernard; Jochen Lampel; Adriana D. Briscoe SUMMARY Although previous investigations have shown that wing coloration is an important component of social signaling in butterflies, the contribution of opsin evolution to sexual wing color dichromatism and interspecific...

... expressed in it. We show here, through behavioral experiments, that the nymphalid butterfly Heliconius erato , although it expresses short and medium wavelength opsins and only one long wavelength opsin, discriminates colors in the long-wavelength range (590 nm, 620 nm and 640 nm), whereas another nymphalid...

...Motohiro Wakakuwa; Koichi Ozaki; Kentaro Arikawa SUMMARY We recently identified a novel retinoid binding protein, Papilio RBP, in the soluble fraction of the eye homogenate of the butterfly Papilio xuthus , and demonstrated that the protein is involved in the visual cycle. We now have localized...

...Xudong Qiu; Kentaro Arikawa SUMMARY The compound eye of the small white butterfly Pieris rapae crucivora contains three anatomically distinct types of ommatidia. They differ in pigmentation around the rhabdom, colour of tapetal reflection and violet light-induced autofluorescence, indicating...

...Doekele G. Stavenga SUMMARY The eye shine of butterflies from a large number of ommatidia was observed with a modified epi-illumination apparatus equipped with an objective lens of large numerical aperture. A few representative cases are presented: the satyrine Bicyclus anynana , the heliconian...

...Almut Kelber; Christel Thunell; Kentaro Arikawa SUMMARY Butterflies of the genus Papilio have polarisation-sensitive photoreceptors in all regions of the eye, and different spectral types of receptor are sensitive to different e-vector orientations. We have studied the consequences of this eye...

...Helge Knüttel; Konrad Fiedler SUMMARY We report on the first case in which sequestered secondary plant compounds determine an insect’s external appearance in the ultraviolet spectrum and thereby influence visually mediated mate choice. Larvae of the common blue butterfly Polyommatus icarus...

...Jayne E. Yack; L. Daniel Otero; Jeff W. Dawson; Annemarie Surlykke; James H. Fullard ABSTRACT Certain species of Hamadryas butterflies are known to use sounds during interactions with conspecifics. We have observed the behaviour associated with sound production and report on the acoustic...

...Michiyo Kinoshita; Kentaro Arikawa ABSTRACT We have recently shown that the Japanese yellow swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus uses colour vision when searching for food. In the field, these butterflies feed on nectar provided by flowers of various colours not only in direct sunlight but also...

...Junko Kitamoto; Koichi Ozaki; Kentaro Arikawa ABSTRACT This paper describes the primary structures of two opsins of short-wavelength-absorbing visual pigments deduced from the mRNA sequences in the retina of the Japanese yellow swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus . A phylogenetic analysis...

...Michael J. Kohane; Ward B. Watt ABSTRACT We study here the connections among body temperature variation, flight performance and flight ‘fuel’ metabolism in Colias eurytheme butterflies, to begin re-examining the metabolic reasons for animal thermoregulation. Methods are presented for (a) stable...

...Michiyo Kinoshita; Naoko Shimada; Kentaro Arikawa ABSTRACT This paper demonstrates that foraging summer-form females of the Japanese yellow swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus have colour vision. The butterflies were trained to feed on sucrose solution placed on a disk of a particular colour...

...Evandro G. Oliveira; Robert B. Srygley; Robert Dudley ABSTRACT Many tropical butterfly species are well-known for their migratory behaviour. Although these insects can maintain a constant direction throughout the day, the physiological mechanisms of orientation are unknown. It has been argued...