Mating Strategies in Butterflies; Battle of the Sexes; Exclusive Online Issues; by Ronald L. Rutowski; 5 Page(s)

As any postpubescent human knows, interest in potential mating partners is heavily influenced by sensory cues. A glimpse of lustrous hair or of piercing eyes can suddenly cause a man to be smitten with a woman, or she with him. The detection of a provocative scent or a sensuous touch may also kindle desire.

Grace Kelly's or Errol Flynn's obvious charms notwithstanding, an unbiased observer might find butterflies far more sensually appealing than humans. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, visual and other sensory cues also appear to govern these tiny creatures' decisions about mates. At stake is nothing less than the opportunity to produce offspring carrying an individual's genes through time.