Danaus plexippus - Color variation question

[poisonarrow]

Hi all,

I did find a few pupa of Danaus plexippus on Kauai, and having enough time there, decided to hatch them. I am a bit amazed by the color variation of the three specimen that hatched, and was wondering if this is a normal thing. Whenever I see imagines flying around they seemed quite uniform, these dark abberants (?) were new to me.

Then again, I really am a beetle collector, and do not know much about Lepidoptera. Is this a normal thing in monarchs, or did I happen to get some weird colored specimen?

Thanks in advance
Best regards
Ben

[poisonarrow]

Hi all,

any feedback on this? Too stupid a question?

Cheers
Ben

[obewan]

There used to be available WHITE Monarchs allegedly from Hawaii some years ago...the bottom sp seems to look more pale than dark.
The 3rd from the bottom appears to be the normal color scheme...
obe

[lepman1256]

Read an article pertaining to the white monarch population on Hawaii in which it was found that the main reason the white population was higher was due to a higher predation rate among the normal orange colored population. Here is the link www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v65/n3/abs/hdy1990110a.html.

[poisonarrow]

Thanks this is good information, I have read about these white morphs before. The ones above are from kauai, where there has been no record of white ones. The bottom one is quite pale, but the black markings on both bottom specimen are much darker. The middle one has actually two colors, the picture does not capture it so well. Will try to take a better onw.

Cheers
Ben

[obewan]

The wider markings are females: www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/danaus-plexippus

[Deleted]

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that the males had two (one on each hindwing) slightly enlarged black spots on the HW veins which are scent glands while the female has plain veins with no spots visible. These spots resembled a look of vein swelling and were not big showy spots you see on some leps. Your pics appear to be females and one does appear to have a slight color variation although that slightly faded look does show up fairly regularly. Oops...your bottom pic showing three specimens does look like a male is on the top. Just my thoughts on what you posted.

[exoticimports]

What you have observed, and posted in the photo, is common on Kauai. The dusky form is quite prevalent. Any chance you got them at the big tree on Poipu Beach Road right at the mouth of the Waikomo Stream, Hanakaape Bay?

Chuck

[hypanartia]

I never saw this variant myself, and I did not know that wild populations of this form were found in the wild.
The only similar phenotype that I heard of, is the melanic variation induced by cold, which is more prevalent in Danaus females, as your two specimens. More information in here
altizerlab.uga.edu/Publications/PDFs/Davisetal2005melanism.pdf
Regards
Jesus

[poisonarrow]

Thanks all for the good replies which were quite helpful. Chuck, I found these on a tree in Waimea. Lots of caterpillars on that one and a few pupa. All butterflies fying around were the normal orange. Hence my surprise when these dusky specimen hatched. I am glad I have them. Jesus, interesting link, it does show a similar specimen and mentions heat-induced, so probably that is the reason for my specimen being darker. They were travelling quite a bit on that day, until I put them into the house where they hatched.

Cheers
ben

[leptraps]

Host plant plays a part in these white spots. Monarch's in North America feed on Milkweeds. They utilize several species of Milkweed in the northern portion of their range: Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed) is the preferred milkweed I believe. Asclepias purpurascen (purple Milkweed) is also used as well as Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed). I have all three in my yard and they eat my Butterfly Weed to the ground.

I Florida I found them on Mexican/Texas Milkweed, Asclepias texana. I reared several from Larvae on found in the fall around Homestead, Florida. The white spots were somewhat diminished. I attributed that to the host plant. Or, possibly a combination of host plant and weather.