de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882 English ISO/IEC 8859-1 (also known as Latin 1) dataset dataset NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg Lancaster LA1 4AP UK info@eidc.ac.uk https://eidc.ac.uk/ EIDC website The Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC) is the UK's national data centre for terrestrial and freshwater sciences. information pointOfContact 2025-11-13T16:19:21 UK GEMINI 2.3 WGS 84 Taxonomic data, neuropil volume measurements, and mushroom body calyx kenyon cell and synapse counts for Heliconiini butterflies, Central and South America, 2012-2016 2024-11-15 publication https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882 10.5285/de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882 doi: Montgomery, S., Couto, A. (2024). Taxonomic data, neuropil volume measurements, and mushroom body calyx kenyon cell and synapse counts for Heliconiini butterflies, Central and South America, 2012-2016. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre 10.5285/de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882 This dataset contains taxanomic and neuropil volume measurements of wild caught heliconiine butterflies, as well as kenyon cell and synapse counts in the mushroom body calyx of insectory -reared heliconiine butterflies. Wild caught butterflies were sampled from five locations in Central and South America between 2012 and 2016. Locations included Costa Rica, Panama, French Guiana, Ecuador, and Peru. These locations covered a range of habitats from dry to wet forest, at elevations from sea level to 2500m. Interspecific data from wild caught individuals include identification to a species level, sex, and body size, as well as volume measurements of the mushroom body structures, central brain, medulla, and antennal lobe. Measurements of mushroom body calyx volume, and estimates of Kenyon cell and synapse counts are included for six species of insectary-reared adult heliconiine butterflies (Agraulis vanilla, dryas iulia, eueides Isabella, heliconius melpmonene, heliconius Hortense, heliconius hecale). Two species (dryas iulia, heliconius charthonia) were also sampled for microglomeruli counts. This dataset was created as part of a NERC Independent Research Fellowship NE/N014936/1, to analyse the evolutionary expansions in mushroom body size in Heliconius butterflies, compared to their closest relatives. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882 Montgomery, S. University of Bristol s.montgomery@bristol.ac.uk https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5474-5695 ORCID record ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. information pointOfContact Montgomery, S. University of Bristol s.montgomery@bristol.ac.uk https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5474-5695 ORCID record ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. information author Couto, A. University of Bristol antoine.couto@universite-paris-saclay.fr https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5528-7331 ORCID record ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. information author NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre info@eidc.ac.uk custodian NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre info@eidc.ac.uk publisher University of Bristol s.montgomery@bristol.ac.uk owner Species Distribution theme GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Biodiversity butterfly species abundance brain lepidoptera heliconiini kenyon cell number neuropil mushroom body mushroom body calyx synapse density otherRestrictions no limitations otherRestrictions This resource is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence otherRestrictions If you reuse this data, you should cite: Montgomery, S., Couto, A. (2024). Taxonomic data, neuropil volume measurements, and mushroom body calyx kenyon cell and synapse counts for Heliconiini butterflies, Central and South America, 2012-2016. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882 textTable English utf8 biota 2012-01-01 2016-12-31 -119.308 -33.879 -56.207 33.669 Comma-separated values (CSV) NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre info@eidc.ac.uk distributor https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882 Download the data Download a copy of this data download https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/sd/de62eff7-6ea4-44d7-a015-2eb9b25cf882.zip Supporting information Supporting information available to assist in re-use of this dataset information dataset dataset Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 Samples were collected over multiple field seasons across central and south America using a hand-net, fixed in situ and returned to the UK. Fixed samples were then stained with Anti-SYNORF as a primary antibody, cy2 as a secondary antibody, and imaged using confocal microscopy. The resulting images, which highlight boundaries between brain regions, were then segmented using AMIRA software to quantify neuropil volumes. Insectary-reared samples were obtained using pupae from commercial supplies. Freshly eclosed butterflies were aged in a controlled temperature room at 28 degrees Celsius with 80% humidity with a 12-hour day/night cycle. The cage was enriched with a natural food resource, supplemented by artificial feeders. Butterflies were sampled six to ten days after emergence. Kenyon cell counts were estimated using immunohistochemical staining against DAPI, imaged with confocal microscopy. Synapse density estimates were made using higher magnification imaging of Anti-SYNORF stained brains, focusing on the calyx. Total count data was obtained by estimating nuclei density/synapse density within sub-sampled regions of a structure, and then extrapolating across the total volume of the structure.