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Post by trehopr1 on Feb 23, 2021 9:11:30 GMT -8
Hey Adam, I just read on Wikipedia that there are 41 recognized subspecies
of Papilio machaon. I always knew there were a bunch but, is that figure accurate ?
Also, which are the “least” seldom seen subspecies in private collections ?
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Post by Adam Cotton on Feb 23, 2021 12:19:28 GMT -8
Hey Adam, I just read on Wikipedia that there are 41 recognized subspecies of Papilio machaon. I always knew there were a bunch but, is that figure accurate ? Also, which are the “least” seldom seen subspecies in private collections ? That figure is approximately correct, although it is unclear whether they are all conspecific with machaon, and some may just be synonyms. Adam. |
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Post by jonathan on Feb 24, 2021 14:36:41 GMT -8
Talking about Swedish machaon and breeding, it was very interesting to find that when I bred that here in Chiang Mai at 38C, much hotter than the larvae would experience in nature, there was absolutely no effect on phenotype due to the high temperature. I was wondering whether the offspring would look more like southern European machaon, but there was no effect on appearance at all. This shows that phenotype is mainly genetically controlled rather than due to environment. I also found that other subspecies retained their normal appearance as well, suggesting that each population is genetically distinct, at least with respect to appearance. Adam. A minefield of knowledge. Thanks for sharing this Adam. Even though Papilioninae are not my area I still enjoy reading and learning :-) |
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 24, 2021 20:15:34 GMT -8
Talking about Swedish machaon and breeding, it was very interesting to find that when I bred that here in Chiang Mai at 38C, much hotter than the larvae would experience in nature, there was absolutely no effect on phenotype due to the high temperature. I was wondering whether the offspring would look more like southern European machaon, but there was no effect on appearance at all. This shows that phenotype is mainly genetically controlled rather than due to environment. I also found that other subspecies retained their normal appearance as well, suggesting that each population is genetically distinct, at least with respect to appearance. Adam. I think under most circumstances it's really hard to produce temperature abs. In early 2016 when doing a large batch of zelicaon, I had the idea of putting large numbers of very fresh pupae in the fridge for a day. A couple of them died, but those that did not all emerged typically (a few pupae became somewhat discolored but emerged okay). Likewise summer 2020 was one of some extreme heat waves and I don't have air conditioning; all of my zelicaon came out normally just the same (including those I found as wild pupae). I am sure that at least some heat/cold aberrations are in fact just outright genetic mutations. |
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