Descriptive Stages and Life History of Chlosyne lacinia (Geyer)                                                                                                (Click on Images to enlarge)

rufescens                                                       adjutrix                           crocale                                                     nigrescens

Chlosyne lacinia, the Patched Butterfly, occurs in the Southwest U.S. (California, Arizona, New Mexico) to Texas and southward to Argentina. This is a highly variable species in the pupal, larval, and adult stages.  Four adult forms in the U.S. are recognized in the old literature dating back to the late 1800’s:  rufescens, adjutrix, crocale, and nigrescens (as seen to the left). The image of nigrescens is not very good. A rear wing broke off and I had to glue it back on but it did not turn out well, plus it is missing an abdomen. A better specimen of nigrescens can be seen by clicking on the image. This one was collected at Campe Verde, Arizona. It needs to be pointed out that what appears to be a very faint dorsal hind wing band is actually the ventral band showing through. Of the four forms crocale and adjutrix have been elevated to the subspecific level. However, the validity of their subspecific status is questionable. All four can be present in one locality and at exactly the same day and time flying panmictically together with one another. An example is the four to the left. They were collected at the same

locality near Mesa, Arizona in the morning of August 16,1969. In addition, all four forms can be present in the offspring of a mating of a female with one male. The questionable status of crocale and adjutrix as subspecies is discussed in Notes on the bionomics, life history, and preparatory stages of Chlosyne lacina. The larvae are polymorphic. Rufa is the orange phenotype, Bicolor the black phenotype with a mid dorsal orange band, and nigra the all black phenotype. I determined the genetic mechanism of these phenotypes and published the results in a paper in Genetical Research titled The genetics of three polymorphic larval colour forms of Chlosyne lacinia. The mechanism is a two locus autosomal system. The dominant rufa allele at the rufa locus produces the rufa phenotype and suppresses the expression of bicolor or nigra at the bicolor locus. When the rufa locus is homozygous recessive the bicolor and nigra phenotypes are expressed. The dominant bicolor allele produces the bicolor phenotype. Nigra is expressed when both alleles are homozyous. The following are images of the egg, larval, and pupal stages. Some cursory comments are made but for those interested in a lot more detail, see Notes on the bionomics, life history, and preparatory stages of Chlosyne lacina and my M.S. thesis The genetics of three larval color forms in Chlosyne lacinia and the phenotypic frequencies of this polymorphism in natural populations.

A male and female (not of gender     choice) in the process of making an     evolutionary contribution to the next     generation          Laying an egg cluster underneath a wild      sunflower leaf (Heliathus annuus)         Egg Cluster. Females have high     fertility. One hand paired female laid     seven egg clusters that produced a     total of 1,169 larvae.  Home Page

Newly emerged first instar larvae        Gregarious behavior. Third instar larvae     nearing  a molt to the 4th instar. Larvae     are  gregarious through the 4th instar, but     disperse in the 5th, the last, instar, Note     the crab spider to the right         Larvae in the process of molting.     Newly molted larvae can be identified     by their light colored scoli

The nigra larval phenotype. The larvae     are all black with variable numbers of     small white dots. One bicolor is in the     image. It is identified by having a mid-     dorsal orange band, or an orange    splotch surrounding the mid-dorsal scoli          The bicolor larval phenotype. The     image has two bicolor and what looks     to be a 3rd instar rufa         A bicolor in the last, the 5th, instar

The rufa larval phenotype. There are     variable amounts of melanism. Some     rufa in early instars have so much     melanism that they could be mis-     identified as being a bicolor. However,     at the fifth instar the melanic areas are     much reduced and the larvae are easily     identified as being a rufa              Four rufa and four bicolor         This exhibits some of the melanic     variation of the pupae. There also     exists a polymorphism of the non-     melanic background coloration being     either a creamy white or a light yellow