[HELICONIUS] Proposal for Heliconius and Ithomiinae symposium

[Jim Mallet]

Dear All,

I have put in for a symposium on Heliconius and Ithomiinae at the Biology 
of Butterflies Rome conference in 2007 which I hope is in more or less 
accordance with your expressed wishes.  There is a shortage of space at the 
meeting, which is limited to 200 places total (I suggest pre-registering 
early! Go to http://biobutterfly2007.uniroma2.it/ and do it now; it doesn't 
cost anything yet).

We are limited to 3.5 hours, which means an absolute maximum of ten talks 
at 20 mins each.  So please be aware that if your name is not on the list, 
or you were amalgamated with another person, we had to make some tough 
decisions.  On the other hand, the programme is very much not set in 
concrete yet (even assuming our proposal is accepted), so do please let me 
know if you want to make changes to what I have suggested.  Write also if 
you want to add yourself to the list, and we will see what we can do!

There may be some people who will not be able to come for reasons of 
expense or other problems, and then we can add people as necessary.  Also, 
please see details of the speciation symposium which will possibly be 
organised alongside this, and might allow some overflow from this symposium.

Below, please find proposal and covering email.

Sincerely, Jim

Proposal for symposium on neotropical butterflies for BioButterflies2007
Mimicry and Evolution of the Heliconiinae and Ithomiinae
Time allocation: 3.5 hours

Symposium Convenors

James Mallet
Professor of Biological Diversity, Galton Laboratory, Department of 
Biology, University College London
tel: (+44) 20 7679 7412
fax: (+44) 20 7679 5052
email: j.mallet at ucl.ac.uk

Chris Jiggins
Royal Society University Research Fellow, Institute of Evolutionary 
Biology, University of Edinburgh
tel: (+44) 131 650 8624
email: chris.jiggins at ed.ac.uk

W. Owen McMillan
Professor, Department of Zoology, North Carolina State University
email: womcmill at ncsu.edu


Outline

Neotropical butterflies in the subfamilies Heliconiinae and Ithomiinae were 
the source of the original theories of mimicry by Bates and Müller in the 
1860s-1870s.  Today, they have become a model system in studies of 
biodiversity, coevolution, mimicry and speciation.  In the last 10 years, 
modern molecular and interdisciplinary studies have led to an acceleration 
of the pace of this work.  Key areas under intense study today are (1) 
genomic approaches to the evolution and development of colour pattern, (2) 
field studies of selection for mimicry, particularly in hybrid zones and 
zones of polymorphism, and (3) hybridization and speciation.

The current symposium is proposed to provide a forum to pull together 
recent work in these key areas.  By the time of the Biology of Butterflies 
Cconference in 2007, we expect that substantial fractions of Heliconius 
genomes will have been sequenced, including the likely identification of 
one or more key genes involved in switching colour patterns.   In addition, 
a startling claim for hybrid speciation has already been made for the 
Colombian species Heliconius heurippa in the journal "Nature", and further 
species are also suspected to have resulted from the same process known as 
"homoploid hybrid speciation".  (In plants, many allopolyploid hybrid 
species exist, but the process of homoploid hybrid speciation is thought to 
be rare). These are among the best documented cases of hybrid speciation in 
the animals.  Finally, recent extraordinarily laborious field studies in 
the neotropics have led to a firm experimental basis for understanding of 
the evolution of warning colour and mimicry.

The programme will pull together a diverse, international group of young 
and older biologists.  The extremely high profile of this topic is 
demonstrated by worldwide publicity for the recent Nature paper on hybrid 
speciation in Heliconius will ensure that the forum will be of very broad 
interest to other butterfly biologists.
Proposed speakers and talks

Ricardo Papa and W. Owen McMillan, North Carolina State University
An integrated genomic map of mimicry evolution in Heliconius erato

Chris Jiggins and others, University of Edinburgh
Molecular evolution and development of mimicry genes and speciation in the 
melpomene group of Heliconius

Robert Reed, Duke University, North Carolina
The molecular basis of colour pattern development in Heliconius and other 
nymphalids

Mathieu Joron, University of Leiden, Netherlands
Evolution of a Müllerian mimicry supergene in Heliconius numata

Gary Langham, University of California, Berkeley
Jacamars and selection for mimicry in Heliconius

Marcus Kronforst, Durrell Kapan and Lawrence E. Gilbert Jr., University of 
Texas and University of Hawaii
Genetics of speciation in Heliconius butterflies

Mauricio Linares, Christan Salcedo and others, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá
Hybridization and speciation in the Colombian Andes

Jesús Mavárez, STRI  Panama
Heliconius heurippa and further new examples of hybrid speciation and 
interspecific gene flow in Heliconius

André Freitas, Universidade Estadual do Campinas, Brasil
Rapid speciation in Acraeini and Ithomiini

Kanchon Dasmahapatra and James Mallet, University College London
A test of refugium theory in the Heliconiina and Ithomiinae using gene 
genalogies
Email cover note

To: biobutterfly2007 at bio.uniroma2.it
From: Jim Mallet <j.mallet at ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: Symposium on Heliconius and Ithomiinae biology
Date: 30 June 2006

Dear Valerio and colleagues,

I attach a proposal for a symposium at the Biology of Butterflies.  I 
believe this proposal is an excellent one which summarizes the new science 
in one of the most rapidly growing areas in butterfly research today.

I have also discussed with Marcus Kronforst, Jesus Mavarez and Durrell 
Kapan the possibility of another symposium on butterfly speciation in 
general, which could partly overlap with this (since many of the recent 
advances on speciation in butterflies have been in Heliconius and Ithomiinae).

I understand that Durrell Kapan will be submitting a proposal to you in the 
next hour or so.  If that proposal went ahead, we could remove some of our 
speciation-oriented speakers to the butterfly speciation symposium and make 
room for other speakers on Heliconius and Ithomiinae (such as Bob Srygley 
(Korea), Carla Penz (USA/Brazil), or Gerardo Lamas (Peru), for example).

Yours sincerely, James Mallet

James Mallet
Professor of Biological Diversity
Galton Laboratory
University College London
4 Stephenson Way
LONDON NW1 2HE
tel: (+44)-(0)20-7679-7411
fax: (+44)-(0)20-7679-5052
web: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/




James Mallet
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/
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