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Why ‘false’ colours are seen by butterflies

Nature volume 402, page 251 (1999)Cite this article

A combination of colour and polarized reflections helps them to choose oviposition sites.

Abstract

Light can be described by its intensity, spectral distribution and polarization, and normally a visual system analyses these independently to extract the maximum amount of information1. Here I present behavioural evidence that this does not happen in butterflies, whose choice of oviposition substrate on the basis of its colour2 appears to be strongly influenced by the direction of polarization of the light reflected from the substrate. To my knowledge, this is the first record of ‘false’ colours being perceived as a result of light polarization. This detection of false colours may help butterflies to find optimal oviposition sites.

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Figure 1: Direction of light polarization influences choices made by the butterfly Papilio aegeus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, PO Box 475, Canberra, 2601 ACT, Australia

    Almut Kelber

  2. Department of Zoology, Lund University, Helgonavägen 3, Lund, 22362, Sweden

    Almut Kelber

Authors
  1. Almut Kelber
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Correspondence to Almut Kelber.

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Kelber, A. Why ‘false’ colours are seen by butterflies. Nature 402, 251 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/46204

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