| Summary: | 碩士 === 康寧大學 === 休閒資源暨綠色產業研究所 === 99 === Lepidoptera Euploea sylvester swinhoei (Wallace & Moore, 1866) is a migratory butterfly that sharesidentical habitats and larvae-breeding habitats with Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758), and both are active within the forest, along the forest margin and open areas, rich in nectar during non-overwintering periods. In addition to
identical habitat types, the crysalis (pupae) of both butterflies in question frequently undergo color changes. The crysalis of E. sylvester swinhoei comes in three colors –yellowish brown, green, and silver with multiple metallic colors. The chrysalises of D.chrysippus come in green or pink dots with a metallic luster. This study attempts to investigate whether such color changes of the chrysalises is influenced by the color of its environmental background.
The experiment is conducted by placing the fifth instar larvae – those that curl up their bodies, cease their feeding and are about to pupate, in separate jars which are
inner-lined by colored cardboard, with standard reflectance spectra, in seven colors: red,orange, yellow, beige, green, blue, and purple, observing and documenting the detailed similarities and differences of the metallic colors and color variations on the pupal surfaces.
The results indicate that the metallic colors of the E. sylvester swinhoei pupae vary in accordance with both their pupal development stage and their background colors.
Under circumstances with various backgrounds, the most significant color change takes place during the mid-pupal stages. With the beige background, the pupae became white
with a silvery tinge, with the yellow background, they became light yellow, with green or orange backgrounds, they all became golden with a greenish tinge, while with red,blue or purple backgrounds, they became silvery-gray with a brownish tinge. As for the pupal-color change of D. Chrysippus, with the green background, the pupae became
green with a pink-flesh color, with the red, beige, blue and purple backgrounds, they developed a pink-flesh color, while with yellow or orange backgrounds, they developed
either a green or pink-flesh color.
Thus we can see that there is a higher probability for the larvae of D. chrysippusto turn green in a space shrouded by the yellow color group. The pupae of E. sylvester
swinhoei, however, take on a variety of reflective tinge in accordance with the environments in which they are situated. As a result, it can be inferred that the pupal
color of E. sylvester swinhoei is more susceptible to their environments than that of D.chrysippus.
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