Pollen feeding in Heliconius butterflies:the singular evolution of an adaptive suite

Major evolutionary transitions can be triggered by behavioural novelty, and are often associated with ‘adaptive suites’, which involve shifts in multiple co-adapted traits subject to complex interactions.Heliconiusbutterflies represent one such example, actively feeding on pollen, a behaviour unique among butterflies. Pollen feeding permits a prolonged reproductive lifespan, and co-occurs with a constellation of behavioural, neuroanatomical, life history, morphological and physiological traits that are absent in closely related, non-pollen-feeding genera. As a highly tractable system, supported by considerable ecological and genomic data,Heliconiusare an excellent model for investigating how behavioural innovation can trigger a cascade of adaptive shifts in multiple diverse, but interrelated, traits. Here, we synthesize current knowledge of pollen feeding inHeliconius, and explore potential interactions between associated, putatively adaptive, traits. Currently, no physiological, morphological or molecular innovation has been explicitly linked to the origin of pollen feeding, and several hypothesized links between different aspects ofHeliconiusbiology remain poorly tested. However, resolving these uncertainties will contribute to our understanding of how behavioural innovations evolve and subsequently alter the evolutionary trajectories of diverse traits impacting resource acquisition, life history, senescence and cognition.