Organization of the Olfactory System of Nymphalidae Butterflies

Olfaction is in many species the most important sense, essential for food search, mate finding, and predator avoidance. Butterflies have been considered a microsmatic group of insects that mainly rely on vision due to their diurnal lifestyle. However, an emerging number of studies indicate that butterflies indeed use the sense of smell for locating food and oviposition sites. To unravel the neural substrates for olfaction, we performed an anatomical study of 2 related butterfly species that differ in food and host plant preference. We found many of the anatomical structures and pathways, as well as distribution of neuroactive substances, to resemble that of their nocturnal relatives among the Lepidoptera. The 2 species differed in the number of one type of olfactory sensilla, thus indicating a difference in sensitivity to certain compounds. Otherwise no differences could be observed. Our findings suggest that the olfactory system in Lepidoptera is well conserved despite the long evolutionary time since butterflies and moths diverged from a common ancestor.