The Queen Butterfly, Danaus Chrysippus (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) at Khartoum, Sudan.

Idris, Eihab Null; Hassan, Sami Saeed M.

doi:10.21608/eajbsa.2012.14812

The Queen Butterfly, Danaus Chrysippus (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) at Khartoum, Sudan.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 321, Postal Code 11115, Khartoum, Sudan.

² 1- 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.

10.21608/eajbsa.2012.14812

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.

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