Fig. 1

Schematic of wing patterns found on the wings of nymphalid and pierid butterflies. A The nymphalid ground plan (NGP), a representation of the maximal number of pattern elements found in the wings of nymphalid butterflies, as devised by Schwanwitsch [21]. B The NGP was subsequently extended and applied to the analyses of wing patterns of butterflies belonging to other families. Pierid butterflies were noted to have reduced wing patterns, with their wing spots thought to be positional homologs of the EIII band, also known as the parafocal element. C Nomenclature of terms used in different versions of the NGP [21, 22]