Speciation and Morphological Diversification of Swallowtail Butterflies

The hallmark of life on earth is morphological diversity, which often manifests in spectacular species diversity and polymorphic variation. In this talk I will present three stories of the iconic Papilio swallowtail butterflies that illustrate the rich diversity of species and polymorphism. I will show how an interaction of frequency-dependent predation and sexual selection maintains wing pattern diversity and drive the evolution of novel wing colour patterns in these butterflies. Finally, I will present recent work on the genetics and development of polymorphic wing patterns in these extraordinary mimetic butterflies, which has considerably expanded our understanding of genetic architecture of novel phenotypes.