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Old 03-15-2002, 03:25 PM   #1
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Cool The Papilio dardanus challenge...

This should be fun.

There is a species of butterly that lives in Africa known as Papilio dardanus. It is a swallowtail butterfly and the males of the species a very similar to other swallowtails around the world, such as the <a href="http://www.loven.plus.com/nicksspiders/insects/swallowtail.jpg" target="_blank">eastern tiger swallowtail</a>.

Some butterflies, such as the <a href="http://www.loven.plus.com/nicksspiders/insects/monarch.jpg" target="_blank">monarch</a>, are poisonous due to their caterpillars' preference of foodplant. Swallowtail butterflies aren't poisonous.

The females of the species Papilio dardanus are polymorphic. That means that they have different forms within the one species. Some of these look just like the male swallowtail. Others, however, are a bit special, they very closely resemble several different species poisonous monarch butterfly, even to the extent of losing their distinctive tails.

See <a href="http://abacus.gene.ucl.ac.uk/jim/Mim2/dardanus.html" target="_blank">this page</a> for illustration.


What I want is your opinions on how and why this happened.

I would be interested in hearing the explanations from old earth creationists, evolutionists and intelligent-designists.

If creationism or ID are sciences that should be taught in school then answering this puzzel should be easy for imaginative followers of those two 'theories'.

Have fun.
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Old 03-15-2002, 03:48 PM   #2
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Question

Out of curiosity, for a non-entomologist, is it the mechanism for the polymorphism known? Are they different genotypes or does its expression depend on environmental or other factors? Are the various morphs found in all populations or are they different races? (If these are parts of your original question, you needn't feel obligated to answer.)

-Neil

[ March 15, 2002: Message edited by: NeilUnreal ]</p>
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Old 03-15-2002, 03:52 PM   #3
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It is genetic. The different forms tend to be found in different regions. In Madagascar the females look like the males.
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Old 03-15-2002, 05:06 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally posted by Huginn:
<strong>
I would be interested in hearing the explanations from old earth creationists, evolutionists and intelligent-designists.</strong>
I'll answer for the creationsists...

God works in mysterious ways

Oh, and here's one for the ID'ers...

God works in mysterious ways
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Old 03-15-2002, 06:15 PM   #5
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It's all about Mullerian mimicry.

-RvFvS
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Old 03-15-2002, 06:38 PM   #6
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Interesting. In North America, the eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) also has polymorphic females that occur in two color forms, the typical yellow-and-black (like the males) and all black, thought to be mimics of the unpalatable pipevine swallowtail.
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Old 03-15-2002, 08:30 PM   #7
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Rufus,

Not to quibble but Mullerian mimicry is the sharing of similar markings by two or more unpalatable species. This seems to be an example of Batesian mimicry where a palatable species shares similar markings with an unpalatable one.
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Old 03-15-2002, 08:35 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally posted by gallo:
<strong>Rufus,

Not to quibble but Mullerian mimicry is the sharing of similar markings by two or more unpalatable species. This seems to be an example of Batesian mimicry where a palatable species shares similar markings with an unpalatable one.</strong>
Hehe. I didn't feel like looking it up. I figured I had a fifty-fifty shot.

-RvFvS
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