If you want to be surrounded by females on the prowl（徘徊） , it pays to be cool, at least if you are a male butterfly. In an unusual example of sex role reversals（逆转，撤销） , females actively¹ court（招致，献殷勤） males after being exposed to cool, dry temperatures as caterpillars²（毛毛虫） , Yale University researchers report in the Jan. 7 issue of the journal Science. Raised in the moist and warmer season as larvae³（幼虫） , males take up the traditional roles of suitor（求婚者） , displaying their wing designs to females who do the choosing.

"Behavior in these butterflies is changed by the temperatures experienced during development," said Kathleen L. Prudic, post-doctoral researcher in the department of ecology and evolutionary⁴ biology and co-author of the paper.

Those females raised in the cooler season and actively courting males will live longer lives once they mate relative to their mated counterparts in the hotter season who are engaged in more passive mate shopping.

The research began when Prudic and Antonia Monteiro, professor in ecology and evolutionary biology, asked why female squinting⁵ bush brown butterflies or Bicyclus anynana had beautiful ornamental⁶ patterns shaped like eyes on their wings just as males did. In most species, males end up with often elaborate（详尽的） and colorful ornamentation（装饰物） to attract mates while females, who do the selecting, tend toward duller displays. The researchers theorized that perhaps courtship behavior might change given different environmental conditions. They tested the behavior of butterflies raised in larval stage at 27 degrees C and at 17 degrees C.

As expected, female Bicyclus anynana in warmer moister conditions that mimic⁷ the wet season in the native African range were more likely to mate with males with ornamented⁸ wings. However, the roles were reversed in cooler drier climates. Females played the role of suitors and flashed their eye spots to choosy males. When scientists studied the wing spots, which reflect light in the UV range, invisible to humans, they found they were brighter in the courting females relative to the males of that same season, or relative to females raised in the hotter season.

Prudic said that male butterflies also deliver nutrients⁹ as well as sperm¹⁰ during mating and that in less than optimal¹¹ times for reproduction (the dry cool season) these male offerings appear to lead to increased female longevity¹². Females want to survive through the dry season and furiously display to as many males as possible in order to obtain these resources from males. Males, on the other hand, become very careful about choosing who they give these resources to because once they do, they liver shorter lives. Only the ladies carrying bright eyespots have a good chance of attracting a mate.