@article {904476, title = {Ecological genetics: a key gene for mimicry and melanism}, journal = {Current Biology }, volume = {26}, year = {2016}, pages = {R802-R804}, abstract = {

The major revolution in Charles Darwin{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}On the Origin of Species{\textquoteright} was the proposal that evolutionary change took place by natural selection. The {\textquoteleft}Origin{\textquoteright} was highly influential primarily because of its convincing, logical arguments, but in 1859 Darwin was unable to provide a single empirical case of natural selection. By the late 19th\ century, two key examples of natural selection became known: mimicry in heliconian butterflies and rapid increases in melanic forms of the peppered moth (Biston betularia) as well as of many other moth species in industrial Britain [1,\ 2]. Only now, however, are we beginning to catch a glimpse of the genetics underlying these adaptive changes. Remarkably, two independent and different-looking colour pattern switches in Lepidoptera {\textemdash} one in wing colour patterning and one that melanizes all scales over the wings and body {\textemdash} have been mapped to exactly the same gene in\ Heliconius\ and\ Biston\ [3,\ 4].

}, author = {Mallet, J. and Hoekstra, H. E.} }