K. R. Willmott

Bending the course of evolution: how mutualistic interactions affect macroevolutionary dynamics of diversification in mimetic butterflies.

This study examines how mutualistic Mullerian mimicry influences macroevolutionary diversification patterns in Ithomiini butterflies, finding that color pattern age drives species richness but not phylogenetic diversity.

Diversification is correlated with temperature in white and sulfur butterflies

This study links temperature stability and cool seasonal maxima to higher diversification rates in Pieridae butterflies, using a comprehensive phylogeny and distribution data.

Hard to catch: Experimental evidence supports evasive mimicry

The paper tests if evasive mimicry, where prey's difficulty of capture leads to warning color convergence, is as effective as distastefulness in deterring predators.

The latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae): conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories.

This study evaluates hypotheses for the latitudinal diversity gradient in Nymphalidae butterflies, finding that low extinction rates and historical dispersal patterns, rather than speciation rates, explain diversity patterns.

Renewed diversification following Miocene landscape turnover in a Neotropical butterfly radiation

This study investigates how Miocene landscape changes influenced diversification in Neotropical Ithomiini butterflies, finding that ecological turnovers drove speciation and extinction dynamics.

North Andean origin and diversification of the largest ithomiine butterfly genus

This study uses molecular and morphological data to reconstruct the phylogeny of the butterfly genus Pteronymia, showing its origin in the Northern Andes and diversification patterns.