Meeting Abstract
Within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), the wing patterns of nymphalid butterflies and many other derived lineages are comprised of parallel multicolored bands called “symmetry systems.” These symmetry systems are of great importance to evolutionary and developmental biologists. However, the origin of symmetry systems is not yet understood: basal moths have simpler wing patterns comprised of bands and/or spots. Existing hypotheses on the origin of symmetry systems from bands or spots are based on little or no empirical data, and homologies between the bands and spots of basal moths are also not known beyond the level of family or superfamily. I examined the relationship between wing pattern and wing venation in Micropterigidae, the most basal extant family of Lepidoptera, and found a consistent relationship between wing pattern and wing venation at the costal margin of the forewing. In the genus Sabatinca, wing patterns are multicolored. Recognizable pattern elements in this genus (multicolored bands), known to be homologous to simple bands in other taxa, resemble butterfly symmetry systems. When plotted onto butterfly wing venation, typical Sabatinca color patterns very closely resemble the “nymphalid groundplan” that represents wing pattern in butterflies and other derived Lepidoptera. It therefore appears that symmetry systems may have originated from the vein-dependent bands on the wings of basal moths.
