Abstract
The tropical butterfly Bicyclus safitza has a dry season and a wet season form. In the laboratory different forms (both dry, wet and intermediates) can be induced by different temperatures. The continuous reaction norm in the laboratory is not expressed in the field because of the discrete environment. This plasticity is similar in two Malawian populations. Developmental time and not temperature per se seems to be the factor determining the wing pattern. The amount of a chemical, synthesized or denatured at a constant rate in the larval stage, is hypothesized to determine the phenotype and to serve as a genotype-environment-phenotype-mapping-function (GEPMF). It is argued from an evolutionary viewpoint that development time will be the determination factor for plasticity in other organisms as well.
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