Gliding in the Amazonian canopy: adaptive evolution of flight in Morpho butterflies
Understanding how colonization of a novel habitat drives the evolution of animal traits is a central question in evolutionary biology. In the canopy of the Amazon rainforest, the slow — and seemingly peaceful — gliding flight of some Morpho species appears to be a specialized adaptation among butterflies.
We studied the divergence in both flight behavior and wing shape among Morpho butterflies living in different forest strata, by combining high-speed
videography in the field with morphometric analyses and aerodynamic modelling. We showed that microhabitat specialization has resulted in the adaptive divergence of flight behaviour and wing shape, opposing efficient gliding flight in species living in the canopy to powerful flapping flight in species living in the understory. We further investigated for divergence in evasive climbing flight, revealing that canopy species also achieve higher climbing efficiency through changes in wingbeat kinematics and morphology.
Full articles:
Le Roy et al. (2021) Science 374(6571):1158-1162.
Le Roy et al. (2022) Journal of Experimental Biology 225(15), jeb243867.
Public outreach article (in french):
Les secrets du vol plané du papillon Morpho (November 2021), Le Monde.