The Queen Butterfly, Danaus Chrysippus (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) at Khartoum, Sudan. | ||||
| Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences. A, Entomology | ||||
| Article 11, Volume 5, Issue 2, August 2012, Page 95-102 PDF (103.99 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/eajbsa.2012.14812 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Eihab null Idris1; Sami Saeed M. Hassan2 | ||||
| 1Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 321, Postal Code 11115, Khartoum, Sudan. | ||||
| 21- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum. P.O. Box 321, Postal Code 11115, Khartoum, Sudan. 2- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Hail. P.O. Box 1560, Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Within the region of East and Central Africa, the aposematic butterfly D. chrysippus is characterized by unusual ecology, due to the co-occurrence of polymorphism, mimicry and sex ratio distortion. In this paper, we describe a survey conducted for D. chrysippus at Khartoum, based upon morphological and molecular investigations. The goal of the study was to determine whether Sudan is a part of the presumed hybrid zone of D. chrysippus in Africa, where the butterfly shows the unusual ecology. D. chrysippus was found to display considerable colour pattern polymorphism. Only one mimetic form, the batesian mimic, female Hypolimnas misippus was recorded. The population sex ratio of D. chrysippus did not show significant deviation from the 1:1 ratio. Molecular tests for the male-killing bacteria Spiroplasma yielded negative results. The study concluded that central Sudan belongs to the hybrid zone but lacks its characteristic ecology. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Aposematic polymorphism; Mimicry; sex ratio distortion; male-killing; Spiroplasma; PCR | ||||
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