| Kallima inachus (Doyére, 1840) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), famous for its mimicry and camouflaging coloration, is of high value in economy, culture and scientific research. Even though it has been divided into 6 subspecies according to the geographic areas of different populations, it's hard to distinguish them from the external morphology. In addition, the knowledge on its population biology is also lack. The population sizes in many places have decreased, because of habitat loss or quality decline in recent years.In our study at Emeishan City, Sichuan Province, P. R. China, the experimental population has 3 generations in a year, overwintering by diapause adults. While most females of 1st generation and 2nd generation emerging before mid August go on with their propagation in the year, a few of the females emerging in this period and those emerging after mid August enters reproduction diapause. In fact, the adult overwintering population consists of individuals of 3 generations.All the activities of adults, such as emerging, feeding, copulating and laying eggs, happen in daytime, closely correlated with sunlight and temperature. In natural habitats, adults take in mainly the sap flowing out of the wounds in trunks or stems of broadleaf trees and rotted fruits, as well as fecaluria of animals sometimes. In the experimental garden, they also take in fresh fruit juice and honey solution. The males show strong territoriality while they are waiting for a female for copulating. If not be preyed by predators, the female adults in diapause could live more than 316 days, while non-diapause females could only live about 36-59 days. Most oftenly, females would rather like to lay most of their eggs dispersedly on the objects around the host plants, such as tree trunks, leaves of shrubs and weeds, only about one third of ova were layed on the upper surface of host leaves. Larva, hatching from the ovum on a higher position, secret a silk drop down onto the ground or right on the leaves of host plants. In that case, a very weak airflow would make the lava deviate from the host plant and some lavae were sticked by spider nets. If host plants are not aboundant in wild, it will be very difficult for 1st to 2nd instar larvae search for host plants.In condition of excellent foliages of food, the larvae have 5 instars. If the food leaves lost water in high temperature, some of the larvae would experience 6 instars. The larvae would like to live singly on the undersides of host plant leaves throuh 1st to 3rd instars, or on the downward stems and ground near the host through 4th to 5th instar. Encountering a predator, the larvae usually come to mimic death. Anyway, larvae of 1st to 3rd instar are much likely attacked by predators.In early or mid March, the females after winter begin to lay their eggs, and the average age of experimental population decrease guadually. From late May to early September, most of the female adults in the population go on with their reproduction. After that, the proportion of diapause female rise rapidly. In 2006-2007, while about 8.43~16.11% of female adults in the 1st generations enter diapause, the ratios of female adults in the 2nd and 3rd generations entering diapause are 56.79~78.79% and almost 100% respectively.Raised indoors with foliages cutted down from the plants, the majority of mortality is that of the 1st to 3rd instar larvae, with far fewer 4th instar larvae getting to death. The last instar larvae seem to be more susceptible to deseases, which are not important to the mortality of the whole generations. When raised dispersally in the field, the main mortality of larvae occurred in the period from 1st to 2nd also, but with many 3rd to 4th instar larvae lost, caused mainly by predators, such as spiders and pentatomid bugs. A typeⅢsurvivorship curve was available in any generation of the experimental population. Most of the adult loss was caused by big spiders, and mice preyed adults overwintering severely.The sex ratio in each generation of experimental population was approximate to 1:1. About 350 to 480 ova were layed by each female adult, with a hatching rate about 90%. As a r-strategist, the high productive capability compensates its high death, therefore, population can be existed and multiplied.The length of protrude at the apex and the width of the forewing, in addition with the outer range corner of forewing vary significantly among geographical populations, and these can be used to identify subspecies of Kallima inachus. But it's not enough. After combining the data taken from the morphology, AFLP, and the sequences of two gene segment, COⅡand Cyt b, we found it's acceptable to divide the species into 7 subspecies. Firstly, the 6 subspeies identified by previous researchers were proved to be correct. These subspecies are:1. Kallima inachus chinensis Swinhoe, including populations in Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces.2. K. i. alicia Joicey & Talbot, including the population in Hainan Island.3. K. i. eucerca Fruhstorfer, including the population in Ryukyu Islands.4. K. i. inachus (Doyére), maybe, including the population at Motuo County in Tibet.5. K. i. siamensis Fruhstorfer, including the population at Qiangmai, Thailand6. K. i. formosana Fruhstorfer, including the population in Taiwan Province.Further more, the study suggest strongly that the population at Jinghong in Yunnan Province should be a subspecies different from any of the frontal ones and this new subspecies should include Yuanjiang population nearby.Generally, the genetic differentiations among some geographical populations of Kallima inachus are so severe that the levels of variation exceed those among species in other insect taxa. We guess some populations seem to be at the edge of forming new species of the genera. We also guess that Kallima inachus might have originated in Indo-China peninsula millions of years ago, and dispersed north to Yangtze River basin, Taiwan Island and Ryukyu Islands afterwards. Some of the individuals might have gone northwest to India, and some dispersed to Hainan Island during Pleistocene glacial eppoches.Based on the sequence differentiation of COⅡand Cyt b, the geographical populations studied in this research could be devided into two groups. Populations in Thibet, Thailand, Yunnan and Hainan belong to the southern group, while populations in Yangtze River Basin, Fujian, Taiwan and Ryukyu Islands should belong to the northern group.
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