Subject: Queen Butterflies

From: JASON WOLF <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 20:32:12 +0500EST

I am considering doing some genetics work on Queen butterflies
(Danaus gilippus) and I am looking for information on three topics.

1) Is anyone familiar with a method for raising milkweed butterflies
in the lab on an artificial diet?  I am only familiar with lab
studies where the larvae were raised on fresh milkweed plants.  For
obvious reasons (i.e. greenhouse space) I would prefer to find a
suitable artificial diet.

2) Does anyone know anything about their distribution in the West
Indies, in particular Trinidad?  I have not been able to find
detailed reports on local abundance.  I have only come across very
general and vague reports of distribution (i.e. from "The Butterflies
of Trinidad and Tobago").

3)  Has anyone done DNA sequencing or identifies microsatellite loci
in the Queen or other Danaids (or even in Nymphalids)?

I will appreciate any help getting this up and running.  Thanks

  Jason B. Wolf
  Department of Zoology
  University of Maryland
  College Park, MD 20742  [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Brian Korbelik)
Date: 5 May 1995 19:39:03 GMT

>suitable artificial diet.

I received a questionaire from an insect company that I've done
business with and on it I suggested that they stock Monarchs.
I received a reply stating that they don't offer Monarchs because 
they couldn't come up with a suitable artificial diet. 

Brian Korbelik