New Publication! Mating strategy does not affect the diversification of abdominal chemicals in Heliconiini butterflies

A new paper out today in Chemoecology includes work by a previous Masters student in the lab, Harriet O’Roarty. She demonstrated that the pheromone blend found in Heliconius sara (pictured left) was affected by what they fed on. This has interesting implications for speciation, suggesting the host-plant switches could alter mate choice and mate recognition.