The evolution of red color vision is linked to coordinated rhodopsin tuning in lycaenid butterflies

MA Liénard, GD Bernard, A Allen… - Proceedings of the …, 2021 - National Acad Sciences
Color vision has evolved multiple times in both vertebrates and invertebrates and is largely
determined by the number and variation in spectral sensitivities of distinct opsin subclasses …

Gut microbiomes of cycad-feeding insects tolerant to β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) are rich in siderophore biosynthesis

K Gutiérrez-García, MRL Whitaker… - ISME …, 2023 - academic.oup.com
Ingestion of the cycad toxins β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and azoxyglycosides is
harmful to diverse organisms. However, some insects are specialized to feed on toxin-rich …

Gregariousness in lepidopteran larvae

C Qian, C Wen, X Guo, X Yang, X Wen, T Ma… - Insect …, 2024 - Wiley Online Library
The gregarious lifestyle of lepidopteran larvae is diverse and shaped by a complex interplay
of ecological and evolutionary factors. Our review showed that the larval‐aggregation …

[HTML][HTML] Impact of herbivory by Zerenopsis lepida (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) on the endangered Encephalartos eugene-maraisii under field conditions

PD Janse van Rensburg, H Bezuidenhout… - Biodiversity and …, 2023 - Springer
Encephalartos eugene-maraisii is an endangered, endemic plant in the Waterberg Mountain
range of South Africa. This is the first report of herbivory by Zerenopsis lepida (Lepidoptera …

Evolutionary trade-offs between male secondary sexual traits revealed by a phylogeny of the hyperdiverse tribe Eumaeini (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

WA Valencia-Montoya, TB Quental… - … of the Royal …, 2021 - royalsocietypublishing.org
Male butterflies in the hyperdiverse tribe Eumaeini possess an unusually complex and
diverse repertoire of secondary sexual characteristics involved in pheromone production …

[HTML][HTML] Cycad-weevil pollination symbiosis is characterized by rapidly evolving and highly specific plant-insect chemical communication

S Salzman, D Crook, M Calonje… - Frontiers in Plant …, 2021 - frontiersin.org
Coevolution between plants and insects is thought to be responsible for generating
biodiversity. Extensive research has focused largely on antagonistic herbivorous …

[HTML][HTML] BMAA in cycad-feeding Lepidoptera: defensive sequestration or bioaccumulation?

MRL Whitaker, SA Banack, MC Mescher… - Frontiers in Ecology …, 2023 - frontiersin.org
Many herbivorous Lepidoptera accumulate plant toxins within their own tissues as a
defensive strategy. Pioneering research in this area was conducted by Miriam Rothschild …

[HTML][HTML] A Robinson Crusoe story in the fossil record: Plant-insect interactions from a Middle Jurassic ephemeral volcanic island (Eastern Spain)

AA Santos, LM Sender, T Wappler, MS Engel… - Palaeogeography …, 2021 - Elsevier
We present here the first record of plant-insect interactions from an ephemeral volcanic
island that was placed 150 km away from the nearest continental mass. The island was …

A switch to feeding on cycads generates parallel accelerated evolution of toxin tolerance in two clades of Eumaeus caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

RK Robbins, Q Cong, J Zhang, J Shen… - Proceedings of the …, 2021 - National Acad Sciences
We assembled a complete reference genome of Eumaeus atala, an aposematic cycad-
eating hairstreak butterfly that suffered near extinction in the United States in the last century …

[HTML][HTML] A checklist of gymnosperm-feeding leafminers (Arthopoda, Insecta) in North America and Europe

T Chen, X Dai, C Eiseman - Biodiversity Data Journal, 2022 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The leafminers on gymnosperms receive much less attention than those on either
angiosperms or ferns. Given the distinctly different leaf shape and leaf venation found in …