James Mallet

Ancient inversion polymorphisms are locally adaptive in a widespread butterfly species

This study identifies ancient chromosomal inversions in the zebra longwing butterfly that are associated with local adaptation to environmental stressors.

Polygenic basis of incipient reproductive isolation in hybridizing populations is revealed by pangenomic and epigenetic divergence

The paper reveals widespread genomic and epigenetic divergence in Heliconius erato populations, showing polygenic barriers to gene flow rather than few major-effect loci.

Müllerian mimicry in Neotropical butterflies: One mimicry ring to bring them all, and in the jungle bind them

This study examines spatial patterns of Mullerian mimicry in Neotropical butterflies, revealing convergent climatic niches and vulnerability to climate change.

Genetic parallelism underpins convergent mimicry coloration across Lepidoptera

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.

Temperature-dependent and sex-specific phenotypic plasticity in Heliconius charithonia

This study investigates temperature-dependent and sex-specific phenotypic plasticity in Heliconius charithonia, finding that warm conditions induce rusty scales in females and a sexually dimorphic response affecting developmental traits.

Inference of continuous gene flow between species under misspecified models

This study investigates biases in inferring gene flow between species under misspecified models and finds that pulse introgression models are more robust to model misspecification than continuous migration models.

Synteny-based genome assembly for 16 species of Heliconius butterflies, and an assessment of structural variation across the genus

The paper improves genome assemblies for 16 Heliconius butterfly species using reference genomes and identifies structural variations between clades.

Melanism patches up the defective cuticular morphological traits through promoting the up-regulation of cuticular protein-coding genes in Bombyx mori

This study shows that melanism in Bombyx mori enhances cuticle morphology by up-regulating cuticular protein-encoding genes, compensating for defects caused by mutations.

Major improvements to the Heliconius melpomene genome assembly used to confirm 10 chromosome fusion events in 6 million years of butterfly evolution