Digest: Multiple selective pressures drive color diversity in moths

How are color polymorphisms maintained within populations? De Pasqual et al. (2022) showed that female wood tiger moths (Arctia plantaginis) that were heterozygous for a wing color gene had higher fertility, hatching success, and offspring survival. These findings suggest that the complex interaction between heterozygote advantage and pleiotropic effects maintains color variability through a balance between multiple and competing selective pressures in wild populations.

Automated summary

Female wood tiger moths that were heterozygous for a wing color gene exhibited higher fertility, hatching success, and offspring survival, indicating that the maintenance of color polymorphisms within populations is driven by a complex interaction between heterozygote advantage and pleiotropic effects in the face of multiple and competing selective pressures in the wild.