Aberrations of the color pattern of the wings can be induced in most of the species of Vanessa, like in many other Papilionoidea, by cold-shock treatment of the early pupae. However, Vanessa virginiensis displays a strong resistance to the treatment, also known as canalization of the color pattern. Here, I describe how this canalization can be overwhelmed by treatment of the early pupae with increasing amounts of sodium tungstate, an inhibitor of protein-tyrosine phophatase. High doses of the inhibitor were able to produce V. virginiensis aberrant individuals including extreme phenotypes similar to the “ahwashtee” aberration. The phenotype of these individuals is described. At high doses, color pattern aberrations are expressed in combination with multiple morphogenetic malformations, identical to that induced by the cold-shock treatment. Thus, the underlying mechanisms of action for cold are similar, although broader, to those of the inhibitor and affect the optimal function of polymorphic house-keeping and regulatory enzymes during the critical period of early pupae. These results suggest that the natural selection of functional polymorphisms of regulatory enzymes determining morphogenesis is a likely mechanism for radiation to colder (or warmer) environments, with no major role for the associated pattern of color.