Sexual selection drives the evolution of wing interference patterns

The seemingly transparent wings of many insects have recently been found to display dramatic structural coloration. These structural colours (wing interference patterns: WIPs) may be involved in species recognition and mate choice, yet little is known about the evolutionary processes that shape them. Additionally, existing research has been restricted by analysing WIPs without due consideration of how they are actually perceived by the viewers’ colour vision. Here, we use multispectral digital imaging and a model of Drosophila vision to compare WIPs of male and female Drosophila simulans from replicate populations forced to evolve with or without sexual selection for 68 generations. We show for the first time that WIPs modelled in Drosophila vision evolve in response to sexual selection, and confirm that WIPs correlate with male sexual attractiveness. These findings add a new element to the otherwise well described Drosophila courtship display and confirm that wing colours evolve through sexual selection.