Male vs. female

[Kenelm Philip]

	We have had two requests for characters to differentiate male
vs. female butterflies. It is worth noting that, when there are no
such characters in the wing patterns, one can always sex adult butter-
flies by direct examination of the genitalia. In most species, the male
claspers, or the longitudinal slit between them, are immediately visible
on the ventral side of the posterior end of the abdomen. The female
genitalia display a short transverse slit, and a rosette of scales to
its posterior.
	In some species (as _Nymphalis_ and _Polygonia_) you may have to
squeeze the end of the abdomen a bit to evert the genitalia--this can be
done on living individuals without harming them.
	Examine the genitalia first for species with clear sexual dimorph-
ism, after which you should be able to use this method for other species.

	The differences between male and female genitalia are discussed
(usually under the heading 'structure') in many of the older butterfly
books and field guides. As a possible result of a de-emphasis of collecting,
there seems to be a tendency to omit this useful information from more
recent works.

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu