Title: Genetic parallelism underpins convergent mimicry coloration in Lepidoptera across 120 million years of evolution
Convergent evolution, the repeated evolution of similar phenotypes, is widespread in nature, but there are few studies investigating the genetic mechanisms of convergence across wide evolutionary timescales. The extent to which the same genetic mechanisms contribute to convergent evolution could reveal whether the pathway towards these optimal endpoints is flexible or constrained to follow a particular route, informing us about the predictability of evolution. Wing colour pattern mimicry in Lepidoptera is a well-known example of convergent evolution, but as studies are restricted to a few closely related species it is difficult to make general inferences about the predictability of evolution in this system. Here we study convergent evolution in multiple mimetic neotropical Lepidopteran lineages that diverged between ~1-120 Mya, including seven species of Ithomiini and Heliconius butterflies and a day-flying Chetone moth.