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Post by bobw on Oct 29, 2015 10:36:02 GMT
Males of many, if not all, species will happily mate on several occasions; the quality of sperm may deteriorate on later occasions but not for the first couple of times. Some females may mate more than once but this is much rarer and I don't know if it's strictly necessary. In some butterflies such as Parnassius the females could not mate again because of the sphragis. In the small frits such as Euphydryas and Melitaea there is a waxy deposit left on the female's abdomen after mating so it is easy to tell if a female has mated or not; whether this prevents further mating I'm not sure.
Bob
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Post by bobw on Oct 29, 2015 18:18:07 GMT
The one time I had E. phaeton here in England (many years ago) they paired up quite easily - unlike E. chalcedona which refused point blank to pair. However, it was at the right time of year; I don't know if you'll get them to pair at this time of the year.
Bob
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