Development and evolution on the wing

Butterfly wing patterns are more than just visually stunning examples of the evolutionary process. They are also emerging as exceptional model systems with which to link the developmental and genetic processes that generate morphological variation with the ecological and evolutionary processes that mould variation in natural populations. Work over the past few years has proceeded simultaneously on key developmental and evolutionary aspects of patterns on butterfly wings. Important clues into molecular and developmental events occurring during wing development are now available that refine our understanding of pattern formation. In addition, recent behavioural, field and molecular phylogenetic work places butterfly wing pattern change in a solid ecological and evolutionary context. There are still large gaps in our understanding, but current research priorities are well laid out and experimental methodologies are in place to address them. The challenge is to synthesize diverse research strategies into a cohesive picture of morphological evolution.