Mating patterns of a sphragis‐bearing butterfly, Luehdorfia japonica leech (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae), with descriptions of mating behavior

Abstract

SummaryMating frequency of both sexes in a natural population of the papilionid butterfly Luehdorfia japonica was studied with special attention to the role of sphragis in preventing multiple matings by females. Males patrolled continuously within a patchy habitat throughout the warm daylight period in search for females. Mating took place without specialized courtship behavior. Males also attempted to copulate forcibly with previously mated females, but the presence of sphragis and/or the escape reaction of females prevented copulation. There was no specialized mate rejection behavior. Females mated early in their adult life, mainly on the day of emergence, and the frequency of mated females reached 100% within the first two or three weeks of their flight period. Spermatophore counts based on dissections of wild females possessing a sphragis indicated that they had never remated. Males were sexually active throughout their adult life. Male mating frequency was estimated from an index of scale‐loss from the claspers and frequencies of males which had not mated, and those which had mated once, twice or three or more times were respectively estimated to be 33.7%, 40.3%, 18.2% and 7.8%.