Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Brown, Richard L.

Committee Member

Goddard, Jerome

Committee Member

Almela, Joaquin Baixeras

Committee Member

Sabanadzovic, Sead

Date of Degree

8-12-2016

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Entomology

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology

Abstract

Despite the biological importance of lepidopteran wing patterns, homologies between pattern elements in different lineages are still not understood. Though plesiomorphic wing veins influence color patterning even when not expressed in the adult wing, most studies of wing pattern evolution have focused on derived taxa with reduced venation. Here I address this gap with an examination of Micropterigidae, a very early-diverged family in which all known plesiomorphic lepidopteran veins are expressed in the adult wing. Differences between the coloration of transverse bands in Micropterix and Sabatinca suggest that homologies exist between the contrast boundaries that divide wing pattern elements. Because the wing pattern of Sabatinca doroxena very closely resembles the nymphalid groundplan when plotted onto a hypothetical nymphalid wing following the relationship between pattern and venation discussed here, it appears that the nymphalid groundplan may have originated from a Sabatinca-like wing pattern subjected to changes in wing shape.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20578

Comments

moth||pigment||homology||morphology

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