Evolutionary hypotheses about the origin and maintenance of communal roosts in Heliconius erato (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)
Abstract
Heliconius erato butterflies roost communally at nocturnal and circadian aggregations called communal roosts, which show relatively stable temporal composition and spatial locations. Despite the large ammount of knowledge accumulated about genetic, ecological and remains not clarified. The main hypotheses concerning to evolutionary origin and maintenance of aggregations are reviewed here, in order to evaluate if they are adequate as explanations to the existence of communal roosts in Heliconius erato. To ascertain the validity of the hipotheses, their functional aspects and internal logic were compared to known life history characters of the butterfly species. This evalution permit to exclude the majority of the hypotheses as adequate explanations. We suggest a mixed hypothesis may be the most probable one, involving an information center and a predation escaping strategy. However, the validity of this (as well as the refutation of remaining hypotheses) should be tested by direct observations or experiments under natural conditions.
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