InsectNet forum

adamcotton wrote: Sat Nov 30, 2024 7:00 pm I bred some of these many years ago here, it is indeed an aberrant form butlerianus (the recessive form that mimics Atrophaneura astorion female, with a white band along the lower edge of the forewing) with hindwings that look like form phoenix.

Note the malformed forewing is a result of a misshapen right wing case when the pupa was formed. I saw this every so often in agenor, and not always the same shape.

Adam.

adamcotton wrote: Sun Dec 01, 2024 6:52 pm This photo is interesting, it shows how the mimetic patters become less stable in areas of China where the model species (particularly Atrophaneura for the tailless forms) do not occur.

The white form (bottom row right specimen) occurs occasionally naturally in Mukdaharn, NE Thailand, and rarely further west in Thailand and in Laos. I selectively bred this form, and eventually much whiter than this, from breeding stock I obtained from Phrae, as well as many different forms, some similar to the above, some different.

Basically this shows how the phenotype is very plastic, but is controlled in nature by predator pressure. Birds (and maybe other predators such as lizards) in a local area will avoid attacking those forms that closely resemble any local distasteful species. As a result any other form that may arise tends to be selected out (= gets eaten) and over time stable forms are established that mimic the local models very closely.

Interestingly in most places form butlerianus is rather rare. The genes that control this form are recessive to agenor and distantianus and it is only common where the model for form butlerianus occurs (these are female A. astorion astorion in NE India and female A. astorion varuna in the Malay Peninsula). Interestingly where these models occur the recessive 'super-gene' is so common that 50% or more of females are form butlerianus.

Adam.

adamcotton wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2024 7:19 pm That is a superb specimen, especially for a wild caught female. It should be used for breeding to produce even more white specimens than this.

I did occasionally find specimens with a reduced red triangle at the base of the forewing.

Adam.

Leonard187 wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2024 4:38 pm About the white one, I saw a wild-caught female with very white wings. It is attractive due to the white pattern on the cells on hindwings, and the red triangles seem to decreased.

martellat0 wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:46 pm While on the topic, allow me to share some photos from an individual I've been following on Twitter. He is a collector and breeder based in Okinawa who - for the past few years, it seems - has been selectively breeding P. agenor in order to produce individuals with extreme white pigmentation. He can be found under the handle @rhetenor12.

Here is a prized specimen. The translate function provided by Twitter can sometimes be unreliable, but from what I can gather, he seems to be trying to recreate the phenotype of a certain population of P. agenor from Nagasaki in the 1970s. He has shared pictures of other specimens with varying degrees of amelanism, but in my opinion, this is one of the most striking examples.

He has also produced both male and female individuals with malformed (possibly absent) wing veins.

Here is a specimen similar to that other one. According to the caption, it is a wild-caught specimen from Taiwan.