Experimental manipulation of Heliconius warning patterns reduces harassment of previously mated females.
Why warning patterns are so diverse is an enduring evolutionary problem. Because predators learn to associate particular patterns with unpleasant experiences, an individuals risk of predation should decrease as the local density of its warning pattern increases. Heliconius butterflies, however, are known for their diversity of warning patterns, and the establishment of entirely new phenotypes is difficult to explain under strict frequency-dependent selection. One possibility is that during periods of relaxed selection, drift may allow new variants to rise above a threshold density until mimicry selection takes over. We propose an alternative hypothesis where novel pattern phenotypes arise due to a conflict of interests between the sexes. It is well established that male Heliconius use warning patterns as a mating cue. This will likely be beneficial to males as it will increase the efficiency of finding mates. However, already mated females may suffer fitness costs if these cues lead to harassment by males during oviposition or foraging. When constraints imposed by predation are locally relaxed, this could lead to rapid divergence in pattern phenotypes through chase-away sexual selection. To begin to test this hypothesis, we experimentally manipulated the warning patterns of mated Heliconius erato demaphoon females and recorded their interactions with conspecific males, and the effect of male presence on laying rate. As predicted, males interacted less with mated females whose red forewing band was blacked-out, as compared to control females whose warning pattern remained intact. We also show that females lay less eggs in the presence of males, but we were unable to detect a significant interaction between warning pattern treatment and the presence of males on female fecundity. Our results suggest that male attraction to conspecific warning patterns, may impose a previously unrecognized cost on Heliconius females.