Groundbreaking research from the Western Ghats is transforming our understanding of evolutionary processes
In the lush rainforests of the Western Ghats of India, a sophisticated game of evolutionary deception plays out daily. Palatable butterflies that perfectly resemble their toxic counterparts flutter through the undergrowth, protected from predators by their clever disguises.
This biological masquerade represents one of evolution's most fascinating phenomena—mimicry—where species gain survival advantages by copying the appearance of others.
The 2018 ASN Presidential Award honored Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte and his team for groundbreaking research on evolutionary dynamics 2 .
The American Society of Naturalists was founded in 1883 and publishes the oldest journal in evolutionary biology 2 .
Dr. Kunte's team became the first Asian researchers to receive this distinguished honor 2 .
Mimicry rings represent fascinating evolutionary communities where multiple species share similar warning coloration patterns.
Butterflies that accumulate toxins from their host plants, making them unpalatable to predators.
Harmless butterflies that evolve to resemble toxic models, gaining protection from predators.
Distinctive wing color patterns that predators learn to associate with danger.
"This type of mimicry fools predators, who avoid these perfectly palatable butterflies by confusing them with toxic species with which they have prior unpleasant experience."
This biological arrangement creates a powerful survival strategy where multiple species collectively reinforce a single warning message to potential predators. The relationship between the toxic models and their palatable mimics is essentially parasitic, as the mimics benefit from the models' toxicity without paying the metabolic cost of producing or storing toxins 2 .
Previous understanding of mimicry rings suggested they were formed primarily through convergent evolution—where dissimilar butterflies gradually evolved to look more alike through natural selection. Dr. Kunte's team decided to test this assumption by studying the mimicry rings of the Western Ghats, which had never been properly studied and characterized before their work 2 .
Dr. Kunte's expertise
Dr. Jahnavi Joshi's contribution
Ms. Anupama Prakash's specialization
The team began extensive sampling of mimetic butterfly communities across the Western Ghats, documenting species composition and distribution patterns 2 .
Using newly developed phylogenetic methods, the team built a molecular phylogeny (species tree) of the Western Ghats mimicry rings to study levels of convergent evolution 2 .
The researchers applied novel phylogenetic techniques to probe community assembly in an evolutionary framework, allowing them to trace the evolutionary history of both model and mimic species 2 .
The team compared their findings from the Western Ghats with mimicry rings from the Asian mainland, including the evergreen forests of Southeast Asia and the eastern Himalayas 2 .
The NCBS team's findings challenged long-held beliefs about how mimicry rings form and function.
Contrary to established theory, the research revealed that toxic models in the Western Ghats mimicry rings are actually closely related species that share similar warning coloration patterns due to shared ancestry rather than convergence 2 .
The mimics join mimicry rings after remarkable bouts of convergent evolution, sometimes separated by tens of millions of years of independent evolutionary history 2 .
The research also revealed how geography influences evolutionary outcomes. The Western Ghats—a young, isolated mountain chain that acts as a habitat island—host species-poor mimicry rings compared to the highly diverse mimicry rings found in the evergreen forests of Southeast Asia and the eastern Himalayas 2 .
| Characteristic | Western Ghats | Southeast Asian Tropics & Eastern Himalayas |
|---|---|---|
| Species Diversity | Low | High |
| Geographic Context | Young, isolated mountain chain (habitat island) | Part of Asian mainland |
| Primary Evolutionary Mechanism | Ancestral inheritance (models) & limited convergence (mimics) | Widespread convergent evolution |
| Dispersal Limitations | High | Low |
"Would we see many of the same species and wing colour patterns in mimicry rings of the Western Ghats if we time-traveled tens of millions of years in the future?"
The groundbreaking work of Dr. Kunte's team relied on several specialized research approaches and tools.
| Research Tool | Function in the Study |
|---|---|
| Field Sampling Techniques | Document species composition and distribution in natural habitats |
| Molecular Phylogenetics | Reconstruct evolutionary relationships among species |
| DNA Sequencing | Provide genetic data for building phylogenetic trees |
| Comparative Biogeography | Analyze patterns across different geographic regions |
| Community Assembly Framework | Understand how ecological communities form and change over time |
The success of this research demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary approaches in evolutionary biology, combining field ecology, molecular techniques, and computational analysis to answer fundamental questions about biodiversity.
The recognition of this research through the ASN Presidential Award highlights its significance to our understanding of evolutionary processes.
The finding that toxic models share similar coloration due to common ancestry rather than convergence reveals how historical evolutionary pathways shape current traits.
The isolation of habitat islands like the Western Ghats affects the development of complex ecological communities like mimicry rings.
As Dr. Kunte noted, "Most biological diversity on earth is concentrated in the tropics. If we want to truly understand and conserve this diversity, biological sciences need to flourish in tropical and developing countries" 2 .
| Aspect | Traditional Understanding | NCBS Research Findings |
|---|---|---|
| Formation of Models | Convergent evolution between dissimilar species | Shared ancestry maintaining similar warning patterns |
| Formation of Mimics | Moderate convergence | Extreme convergence across deep evolutionary time |
| Geographic Patterns | Consistent across regions | Strongly influenced by isolation and habitat size |
| Evolutionary Timescale | Recent adaptations | Processes operating over tens of millions of years |
The research also opens new avenues for scientific exploration. Dr. Kunte's lab plans to expand this work to mimicry rings not only in the Asian tropics but globally 2 .
"There is great value in comparative research on the grander global scale on which natural selection—that singular evolutionary force—has performed breathtaking experiments in bio-diversification over many million years."
The 2018 ASN Presidential Award-winning research transformed our understanding of how evolutionary processes create and maintain biological diversity.
By revealing that mimicry rings form through different mechanisms than previously thought—ancestral inheritance for models and profound convergence for mimics—the work highlights the complex interplay between historical constraints and adaptive innovation in shaping nature's patterns.
"The historical, ecological and evolutionary processes that give rise to the precise composition of biological communities is still largely a mystery. The best people to solve this problem are scientists who are sympatric with the rich biodiversity of the tropics."
This research not only earned well-deserved recognition but also inspires a new generation of scientists to look more closely at the evolutionary stories written in the wing patterns of butterflies—reminding us that nature's most fascinating mysteries often hide in plain sight.
The study of mimicry rings continues to reveal new insights into evolutionary processes and ecological interactions.