Gynandromorphs! Lucky find of Speyeria cybele

[EdTomologist]

Those of you who follow my socials have already seen this but I figured I’d share this. The narration was done by a friend so pls excuse any inaccuracies such as the use of the word “deformity”.

This specimen was collected in a field I’ve collected in for many years. I was packing specimens when I spotted it. Very lucky find.

PS: I’m also doing some traveling so I’ll be MIA for a bit but will have great stories to share when I’m back.

[Chuck]

I always assumed the below to be a deformity, not a gynandromorph.

[EdTomologist]

I always assumed the below to be a deformity, not a gynandromorph.

Wing color, pattern and other traits to me indicate they the right forewing is simply a deformity or dwarf wing. Possibly not fully expanded.

As you can see from my specimen the male and female sides have different shades and wing pattern.

[EdTomologist]

I always assumed the below to be a deformity, not a gynandromorph.

The dwarf wing merged spot’s between the marginal and submarginal wing spots are interesting though.

[kevinkk]

I'm confused. About this thread.
Speyeria cybele in the Pacific Northwest, the males and females are sexually dimorphic in a dramatic manner.
Is that simply the "leto" subspecies? Even Robert Pyle's Butterflies of Cascadia book leaves me in over my head apparently.
I would have never considered your specimen to be anything but a deformity and not a gynandromorph.

[boghaunter1]

Here is an old photo, posted in Clark's insectnet.com, of the only gynandromorph I have ever collected:

Bilateral Gyn. of G.S. Fritillary.jpg (197.57 KiB) Viewed 958 times

This was collected in late July 1992... a year prior, in 1991, the volcano Mt. Pinatubo, in the Philippines blew it's top spewing ash high up into the atmosphere & lowering worldwide temperatures. All of the fritillaries (all buttefly spp. really) here in my area of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1992, were very late in emerging (very cool summer) & very fresh specimens were common in late July & into August (usually appearing 1st week in July). Did the cooler temperatures have anything to do with the appearance of this odd creature?... probably not... was just a very rare, genetic aberrant.

John K.

[Trehopr1]

Hi Kevinkk,
Chuck's specimen is indeed a "deformity" with its reduced wing.
However, the specimen featured by ED-tomologist is a naturally
occurring and (very rarely) seen bi-lateral gynandromorph !

Gynandromorphs occur in "varying" degrees. Most times they occur
as (1/4) gynanders OR as "mosaics" which may feature any number
of streaks or spots occurring on multiple wings.

ALL of these genetic defect butterflies are one-of-a-kinds and are
really unique (in that right). But, the real (unicorn) of the lot -- that
is the rarest ever encountered are true bi-lateral butterflies; those
featuring a perfect symmetrical division of male on (1/2) and female
on the other (1/2).

[Trehopr1]

This photograph by ED-tomologist clearly shows a female
(1/2) on the left and a male (1/2) on the right.



Bi-laterals will also have only one male clasper
present.