Sensory adaptation to convergent micro-habitats anthropogenic declines in the 20th century

How do animals tune in to the most relevant information in their environment? Microhabitat partitioning between mimicry rings in Neotropical butterflies provides a case study in adaptation to different sensory environments. Species belonging to the same mimicry ring show convergence in microhabitat preference, while closely related species belonging to different mimicry rings quickly diverge in microhabitat preference, exposing closely related species to contrasting sensory environments. This dual pattern of convergence and divergence provides a range of opportunities for comparative analyses that aim to understand the role of brain and sensory evolution during ecological divergence. This project will use ithomiine butterflies as a study system to ask how species adapt to their sensory environment: For example, does sensory adaptation involve changes in perception or processing? How does selection for sensory specialisation shape peripheral and central neural structures? And does the convergent colonisation of the same microhabitat involve the same sensory adaptations?