Violaine LLAURENS

Team members involved : O Sculfort, V Llaurens
in collaboration with : Bastien Nay (CNRS) and Marianne Elias (CNRS)

The extraordinary evolutionary convergence in wing colour pattern among defended species stem from the advantage from sharing the cost of learning by predators. Understanding the evolutionary history of the convergence in wing colour pattern thus require to study the evolution of chemical defenses and of their variations. We characterized quantitative and qualitative variations in chemical defenses in Heliconius species (Sculfort et al. 2020). Heliconius catterpillars feed on Passiflora leaves that contains cyanogenic glucosides. Caterpillars can then sequester and/or neo-synthesized cyanogenic compounds from their diet, and we thus study the effect of caterpillar diet on the chemical composition of adult butterflies.

Current fundings: Emergence Program from Paris city council and Labex BcDIV

Team members involved : L Maisonneuve, V Llaurens
in collaboration with : C Smadi (INRAE), M Chouteau (CNRS) and M Joron (CNRS)

Using theoretical modelling, we are investigating evolutionary mechanisms leading to the evolution of disassortative mate preferences, focusing on the genetic architecture involved (Number of loci, dominance, linkage disequilibrium) (Maisonneuve et al. Evolution 2021). We then built a general model exploring the conditions enabling the emergence of disassortative mating, highlighting a negative feedback limiting the evolution of such behaviour (Maisonneuve et al. American Naturalist 2021). We also explore the influence of mate preferences on the evolution of mimetic colour patterns within and among sympatric species.

Links to the last pre-prints linked to the project:

The limits of evolutionary convergence in sympatry: reproductive interference and developmental constraints leading to local diversity in aposematic signals

Evolutionary origins of sexual dimorphism : Lessons from female-limited mimicry in butterflies

Fundings: Emergence program from Paris city council and ANR SUPERGENE

Team members involved : , V Llaurens
in collaboration with : H Bastide (CNRS), M Joron (CNRS)

Combining experimental and theoretical approaches, we investigated the natural selection acting on dominance among mimetic alleles and its consequences on the evolution of dominance at the supergene controlling polymorphic mimicry. We hypothesized that dominance may have evolved, and will aim at investigating the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Current fundings: Emergence program from Paris city council and ANR SUPERGENE

Team members involved : C Le Roy, V Debat, R Cornette, V Llaurens, P Blandin
in collaboration with : R Godoy-Diana (CNRS) and F Muijeres (University of Wageningen)

Because of the recent discovery of wing shape variations being associated with different micro-habitat (canopy vs. understory) in the genus Morpho, we aim at investigating inter-specific variations in flight performances, using both aerodynamics experimental set ups in the lab and behavioural experiments in the field. By studying the link between wing shapes variations and flight performance (Le Roy et al. 2019), we may provide a better understanding of evolutionary forces driving co-evolution between wing shape and flight behaviour in the genus Morpho. We recently show evidences of adaptive evolution of gliding flight in the Morpho species living in the canopy (Le Roy et al. Science 2021). We also discovered a striking divergent evolution of temporal niche between sister species living in sympatry (Le Roy et al. Nature Communications 2021).

Link to Camille’s PhD defence : https://youtu.be/eLqvb0zHLko

Current fundings: Labex BcDIV and Graduate School ‘Frontières du Vivant’

Team members involved : J Ledamoisel, J Devilliers, V Debat, P Blandin V Llaurens
in collaboration with : D Gomez (CNRS), C Smadi (INRAE), H Bastide (University Paris Saclay) and C Roux (CNRS)

We recently documented striking convergence in wing colour pattern shared by different species of the genus Morpho within localities and parallel phenotypic diversification in different geographic areas (Llaurens et al. 2020). These convergence are likely driven by so-called escape mimicry: the high escaping abilities of these butterflies enabled by powerful flight abilities and peculiar wing colour pattern may favour predators hopelessness. Predators would then learn the association between escape abilities and colour pattern, generating positive density-dependent selection on colour patterns. We are know exploring variation in iridescent colour pattern within and among species, as well as the evolution of visual capacities in these species.

Team members involved: Agathe Puissant, Violaine Llaurens
In collaboration with: Fabien Condamine (ISEM)

The evolution of wing colour pattern in butterflies is often shaped by natural selection exerted by predators, as well by sexual selection. AT macro-evolutionary scale, the diversification of colour pattern in sympatry could thus be linked to specialization into different ecological niches and to the reproductive interferences among species where mate recognition is mainly base on coulur patterns.  The Phd project of Agathe Puissant aims at developping machine-learning based method to quantifying wing colour pattern variations among species to investigate the effect of ecological interaction among species on the diversification of wing colour pattern in sympatry, focusing on Papilionidae butterflies.

Team members involved: Ariane Chotard, Vincent Debat, Violaine Llaurens
In collaboration with: Fabien Condamine (ISEM)

The evolutionary forces involved of hindwing tails in Papilionidae are still largely unknown. During her Phd, Ariane is investigating the evolution of this phenotypes using geometric morphometrics applied to a large number of specimens from the collections of the Museum (more than 3000 specimens covering 370 species). She is also estimating the impact of hindwing tails on predator behaviour and aerodynamic performances using Iphiclides podalirius as a model species.