Pupation site preference and environmentally cued pupal colour dimorphism in the swallowtail butterfly Papilio polyxenes Fabr. (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Abstract

Environmentally cued polymorphisms are hypothesized to evolve when the environment is coarse-grained and different genotypes are unable to choose the habitats in which they are most fit. In Papilio polyxenes, which has an environmentally cued pupal colour dimorphism, there is genetic variation in both tendency to produce brown or green pupae and preference for green- or brown-inducing pupation sites, but the two traits are not correlated. © 1996 The Linnean Society of London.