Genetic parallelism underpins convergent mimicry coloration across Lepidoptera
Yacine Ben Chehida, Eva S. M. van der Heijden, Edward J. Page, Patricio A. Salazar, Neil S. Rosser, Kimberly Gabriela Gavilanes Córdova, Mónica Sánchez-Prado, María José Sánchez-Carvajal, Franz Chandi, Alex P Arias-Cruz, Maya Radford, Gerardo Lamas, Chris D. Jiggins, James Mallet, Mélanie McClure, , Joana I. Meier
This study identifies shared genetic mechanisms underlying convergent mimicry coloration in Lepidoptera, showing that non-coding regions near ivory and optix genes are consistently associated with color pattern switches across distantly related species.
bioRxiv · Jun 26, 2025 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology