Rhinopalpa polynice
Niklas WahlbergIntroduction
Rhinopalpa polynice is found in SE Asia from Thailand to Indonesia. There are many subspecies described for the species, mainly from the Indonesian islands. Not much is known about the ecology of this species. Its larvae feed on host plants in the family Urticaceae. According to Wahlberg (2006) Rhinopalpa polynice diverged from its sister species (the African Vanessula milca) some 45 million years ago. Quite likely, the ancestor of Rhinopalpa colonised Asia from Africa, although how it did so is not clear yet. A molecular study of the island populations of Rhinopalpa would be informative of the evolutionary history of this distinctive yet enigmatic species.
References
Wahlberg, N., 2006. That awkward age for butterflies: insights from the age of the butterfly subfamily Nymphalinae. Syst Biol 55, 703-714.
Wahlberg, N., Brower, A.V.Z., Nylin, S., 2005. Phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeography of tribes and genera in the subfamily Nymphalinae (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Biol J Linn Soc 86, 227-251.
About This Page
Niklas Wahlberg
University of Turku, Finland
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Niklas Wahlberg at
Page copyright © 2006 Niklas Wahlberg
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- First online 02 November 2006
Citing this page:
Wahlberg, Niklas. 2024. Rhinopalpa polynice http://tolweb.org/Rhinopalpa_polynice/70221/2024.12.16 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
. Version 16 December 2024 (under construction).