Sfragis in swallowtails

Sphragis ( Latin-seal, seal) - a hard chitinous appendage on the underside of the abdomen in female sailboats, formed by the female immediately after mating. Most often, sphragis are found in parnassius, as well as related species. The meaning of sphragis is to exclude re-fertilization of the female.

I will add that the "seal" of sphragis is unique for the species, and it generally interferes with the female. Sexual selection, however.

Yes, the sphragis structure (as well as, for example, the genital apparatus and egg sculpture) is used to accurately identify many Parnassian species that are difficult to identify by other external features. As for "interfering" with the female, I don't think she cares: she will lay eggs and die soon after mating anyway. By the way, about polyxene: in the posted photos, the formation at the end of the abdomen of females is sphragis. I have not found the exact structure of the sphragis in this species anywhere, but the sphragis of the female Luehdorfia puziloi, together with Zerynthia polyxena, which belongs to the subfamily Zerynthiinae, has a similar structure.

Gentlemen, Already the 5th time I go to read the fishing report, and I see a discussion, sorry, p@pisek butterflies. Is it possible to create a separate thread on this topic? I don't think I'm the only one who cares about Polyxena's genitals.

I read somewhere that males of some "sphragistic" species are armed with special tools to remove the sphragis of the predecessor, while females sometimes develop organs that prevent sealing, or vice versa (in different species, of course). Such a peculiar unity and struggle of the sexes, or something.

Gentlemen, Already the 5th time I go to read the fishing report, and I see a discussion, sorry, p@pisek butterflies. Is it possible to create a separate thread on this topic? I don't think I'm the only one who cares about Polyxena's genitals.

Genitals and sphragis are different things Why not discuss some of the issues that arise along the way? Don't create a separate theme for each such case! In addition, no one turns the topic of fishing into a topic about genitals. The main messages in this topic are just fishing reports. Those who are not interested in messages on related topics may simply not read them.

I showed the photos to the breeder. Here is his response:
In the photo, a male with genitals-valvae and uncus.

It is strange that these structures "stick out" so much. Is this the case with all male polyxenes? In the specimens of polyxene (and allancastrium) that I have seen, this was not observed.

I have breeding males and females. no one has anything sticking out.
I don't know why these pictures are like this.
Maybe when fishing, when mikee pressed
the butterflies, he pressed them too hard?
Mikee, admit it, did you push? :-)

In general, if you press down a butterfly, it can still live for some time (sailboats are very tenacious). Females lay eggs in this state, males " actively move the sexual apparatus." And it's not just for sailboats. Maybe that's why they got kicked out like this?
I have a funny explanation, of course.

This post was edited by Morozzz - 05/24/2007 22: 23

I have breeding males and females. no one has anything sticking out.
I don't know why these pictures are like this.
Maybe when fishing, when mikee pressed
the butterflies, he pressed them too hard?
mikee, admit it, did you push? :-)

You can see in the photos that the abdomen is not crushed. And the second one was generally caught by a layman, I don't know what he did with it. To be honest, during the initial examination immediately after the capture, I noticed these formations only in one specimen. If polyxene really does not have sphragis, then I begin to lean towards the opinion of Morozz-a, since the butterflies in the bags fit in a live form, half-smothered. Moreover, I caught it on Saturday, and spread it out on Monday evening, and two copies were still moving. So maybe these are really near-death protrusions-organ prolapses? Or from the heat?

If "protrusions-prolapses", then where are the other structural parts of the genitals? If the protruding structures are valvae and uncus, then you need to look for aedeagus-there is no way without it, but in general, you can determine the gender by other signs - then the issue with sphragis will be solved by itself. In general, female sailboats (including polyxenes) have a thicker and more massive abdomen than males, especially when compared.

I've heard that male sailboats have a larger inner notch on the second pair of wings than females. True, I didn't check it myself.