Male-Killer Dynamics in the Tropical Butterfly Acraea encedon (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

S.S.M. Hassan; E. Idris; M.E.N. Majerus

doi:10.4001/003.021.0217

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S.S.M. Hassan,^1,2,3,* E. Idris,² M.E.N. Majerus^3,4

¹1Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 321,11115, Khartoum, Su
²2Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Saudi Arabia
³2Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, U.K.
⁴†Deceased.

^*Author for correspondence. E-mail: samisaeedmh@yahoo.com

Abstract

Sex ratio distortion in the tropical butterfly Acraea encedon is caused by infection with a male-killing bacterium of the genus Wolbachia. Severely female-biased populations with extremely high bacterial prevalences were previously reported in A. encedon. In this paper, we describe a study in which the spatial variations and the temporal changes in the population sex ratio and the prevalence of the male-killing Wolbachia were thoroughly investigated in the wild populations of Acraea encedon in Uganda between 2005 and 2007. The two parameters were found to vary extensively over space and time, indicating that the male-killer is highly dynamic. Both the female-bias and the Wolbachia prevalence were lower than that recorded in the literature.

Citation Download Citation

S.S.M. Hassan, E. Idris, and M.E.N. Majerus "Male-Killer Dynamics in the Tropical Butterfly Acraea encedon (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)," African Entomology 21(2), 209-214, (1 September 2013). https://doi.org/10.4001/003.021.0217

Accepted: 23 February 2013; Published: 1 September 2013