Abstract
A field study of the polymorphic African butterfly Danaus chrysippus L. at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1972–73) indicated that mating may be non-random between forms dorippus and aegyptius1 and that seasonal sexual selection occurs2. Subsequently, a long-term breeding programme revealed a heterozygous phenotype3 which closely resembles dorippus, and allowed estimates of heterozygote frequency in the field4. Analysis of mating records (1974–75) shows that males visibly heterozygous at the controlling C locus (from transiens)3,4 possessed a highly significant mating advantage over both homozygous phenotypes throughout the study period, although pair composition among the three genotypes was random. I propose here that balancing selection, mediated mainly through male competition for mates, makes a decisive contribution to the control of the polymorphism.
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Smith, D. Heterozygous advantage expressed through sexual selection in a polymorphic African butterfly. Nature 289, 174–175 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/289174a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/289174a0
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