Papilio xuthus

This paper demonstrates that foraging summer-form females of the Japanese yellow swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus have colour vision. The butterflies were trained to feed on sucrose solution placed on a disk of a particular colour in a cage set in the laboratory. After a few such training runs, a butterfly was presented with the training colour randomly positioned within an array of disks of other colours, but with no sucrose solution. The results indicate that the butterflies learn rapidly to select the training colour reliably among different colours. The training colour was also correctly selected when it was covered with neutral density filters to reduce its brightness, or even when the colour was presented together with disks of a variety of shades of grey. These results demonstrate convincingly, for the first time, that a butterfly has true colour vision. There are a number of reports describing the relationship between coloured stimuli and certain behaviour patterns of butterflies. Pioneering work by Papilio demoleus (Papilionidae) spontaneously visited artificial flowers coloured blue and purple. Pieris napi (Pieridae) was shown to feed on artificial flowers of certain colours; the preferred colour varied among individuals. The preference changed if the flowers of the preferred colour no longer contained nectar ( Aglais urticae (Nymphalidae), Pararge aegeria (Satyridae) and Pieris brassicae (Pieridae) were shown to prefer one particular colour irrespective of t...

Butterflies of temperate Asia Asian Swallowtail Papilio xuthus LINNAEUS, 1767 Family - PAPILIONIDAE subfamily - PAPILIONINAE Tribe - Papilio xuthus, Yunnan, China � Tony Hoare Introduction Back in the 18th century when Linnaeus created the System Naturae, the word Papilio was used as the genus name for every known species of butterfly in the world. Since then much has been learnt about the relationships between different species. Consequently most have been reassigned to new genera, and only about 215 of the 17600 currently known species are retained in Papilio. Papilio xuthus is found in Myanmar, China, Taiwan, Korea, Ussuri, Amur, Japan, the Philippines and Hawaii. Habitats This species inhabits woodland, suburban gardens, city parks and Citrus orchards, at elevations between sea level and about 1000m. Papilio xuthus, 2500m, Baisha, Lijiang, Yunnan, China � Jean-Marc Gayman Lifecycle The spherical pale yellow egg is laid singly on the upper surface of leaves of Euodia, Zanthoxylum, Phellodendron, Poncirus and cultivated Citrus ( Rutaceae ). The fully grown caterpillar is green with large white spots above the prolegs. It has a pale green 'saddle' broken into 4 sections, the trailing edge of each being marked narrowly in white and broadly in dark green. The 3rd thoracic segment has a mottled patch within which are a pair of reddish false eye marks. The pupa is pale brownish or green depending on the substrate used for pupation. Adult behaviour Both sexes nectar at a wide ...

Agehana Matsumura, 1936. Type species: Papilio maraho Shiraki & Sonan (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio or Chilasa; when so separated no included species are American. However, immature stages are nearly identical to immatures of the tropical American " Pyrrhosticta" group of species, and they are clearly very closely related.) The number of segregate genera proposed is quite impressive, but it is also interesting to note that two authors (Hübner and Moore) are responsible for the bulk of these names. A number of these names can be used to represent relatively distinct groups of species and are treated by some authors as distinct genera, or more often as subgenera or species groups within Papilio. Names listed above that involve species occurring in North America north of Mexico and in Hawaii are marked by an asterisk " *". Some North American Swallowtails have been treated by some (but not all) authors as belonging to separate genera as well, the Tiger Swallowtails and close relatives being placed in Pterourus ( Heraclides. When American species alone are considered, this seems a moderately logical treatment, but when put into a world-wide perspective, it becomes less convincing. A somewhat more conservative view is to treat the most distinctive groups of species as subgenera within genus Paplilio. "There has been a tendency to subdivide swallowtails into smaller genera to reflect groupings based on wing pattern, larval appearance, and ...

• • Views Icon Views • Article contents • Figures & tables • Video • Audio • Supplementary Data • Peer Review • PDF Link PDF Click here to open pdf in another window File PDF PDF+SI • Article Versions Icon Versions • Version of Record 01 January 2019 • Share Icon Share • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Email • Tools Icon Tools • The swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus can perceive the linear polarization of light. Using a novel polarization projection system, we recently demonstrated that P. xuthus can detect visual motion based on polarization contrast. In the present study, we attempt to infer via behavioural experiments the mechanism underlying this polarization-based motion vision. Papilio xuthus do not perceive contrast between unpolarized and diagonally polarized light, implying that they cannot unambiguously estimate angle and degree of polarization, at least as far as motion detection is concerned. Furthermore, they conflate brightness and polarization cues, such that bright vertically polarized light resembles dim unpolarized light. These observations are consistent with a one-channel ‘monopolatic’ detector mechanism. We extend our existing model of motion vision in P . xuthus to incorporate these polarization findings, and conclude that the photoreceptors likely to form the basis for the putative monopolatic polarization detector are R3 and R4, which respond maximally to horizontally polarized green light. R5–R8, we propose, form a polarization-insensitive secon...

Jin-Wu He 1,2, Zhi-Wei Dong 1, Ping Hu 1, Wei Liu 1,2, Ru Zhang 1, Gui-Chun Liu 1, Ruo-Ping Zhao 1, Wen-Ting Wan 1, Wen Wang 1,2,3* and Xue-Yan Li 1* • 1State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China • 2Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China • 3School of Ecology and Environment, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China Pupal color polyphenism in Papilio butterflies, including green, intermediate, or brown, is an excellent study system for understanding phenotypic plasticity. Previous studies suggested that development of brown pupae may be controlled by a hormone called pupal-cuticle-melanizing-hormone (PCMH) which is synthesized and secreted from brain-suboesophageal ganglion and prothoracic ganglion complexes (Br-SG-TG1) during the pre-pupa stage. However, detailed molecular mechanisms of neuroendocrine regulation in pupal color development remain unknown. In this study, we integrated the expression profiles of transcriptome and proteome at pre-pupa stages [2h after gut purge (T1) and 3h after forming the garter around the body (T2)] and pigmentation stages [10h after ecdysis (T3) and 24h after ecdysis (T4)] to identify important genes and pathways underlying the development of green and brown pupa in the swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus. Combined comparisons of each developmental stage and each tissue under green and brow...