Hypolimnas bolina (L.), a mimic of danaid butterflies, and its model Euploea core (Cram.) store cardioactive substances

A danaid mullerian mimic, Euploea core amymone (Cramer) lacking cardenolides in the pupal and adult stages

“…1, also Jager et al, 1969). These results confirm that the self-secreted cardioactive substance, which we had previously found in normal and leaf-free diet-reared specimens (Marsh et al, 1977 is not a cardenolide.…”

Evolutionary Assembly of the Milkweed Fauna: Cytochrome Oxidase I and the Age of TetraopesBeetles

“…Insects adapted to feed on cardiac glycoside-bearing plants are thought to bear modifications in the sodium pump proteins that confer resistance to these toxins, a hypothesis that has been confirmed for some lepidopteran milkweed insects (Holzinger et al, 1992;Holzinger and Wink, 1996). Whatever the mechanisms of resistance, various species in some 50 disparate taxonomic groups of milkweed herbivores Mitter, 1993, 1998) are known to sequester and store the cardiac glycosides (Scudder and Duffy, 1972;Rothschild, 1973;Isman et al, 1977;Marsh et al, 1977;Nishio et al, 1983;Brower et al, 1984;Berenbaum and Miliczsky, 1984;Ackery and Vane-Wright, 1985;Detzel and Wink, 1995;Moranz and Brower Lincoln, 1998). These sequestered toxins then serve to defend these insects against their predators, and the insects often advertise their acquired defenses via a bright warning coloration in a well-known syndrome of aposematism and probable Mullerian mimicry (Brower et al, 1984a,b;Ackery and Vane-Wright, 1985).…”

Body size and colour-pattern genetics in the polymorphic mimetic butterfly Hypolimnas misippus (L.)

“…Bernardi (1974) and Pierre (1980) believe that mimicry was not involved in the origin of the resemblances between these species, although they agree that it may have been involved in their selective maintenance. Others (Poulton, 1908;Marsh et al, 1977) have suggested that the relationship may be Müllerian rather than Batesian. The strongest evidence against a Batesian interpretation comes from the biogeographical mismatching of model and mimic colour pattern forms (Bernardi, 1974;Pierre, 1980), but there are additional problems, including the high frequencies of nonmimetic forms throughout Africa and the often discordant model-mimic ratios that exist, particularly in irruptions of the mimic during the early rains.…”