Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1977 Jan;31(2):153-158.
doi: 10.1007/BF00346917.

Why do males emerge before females? : A hypothesis to explain the incidence of protandry in butterflies

Christer Wiklund  1 , Torbjörn Fagerström  2
Affiliations

Why do males emerge before females? : A hypothesis to explain the incidence of protandry in butterflies

Christer Wiklund et al. Oecologia. 1977 Jan.

Abstract

In butterflies and many other insects there is a general tendency for males to emerge before females. This is known as protandry. In this paper we advance the hypothesis that protandry is a reproductive strategy of males, resulting from competition for mates, and should primarily occur in species maintaining female monogamy. Our hypothesis is corroborated by applying a mathematical treatment to a theoretical population with seven defined properties, all of which are argued to be reasonable assumptions for natural populations.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Annu Rev Entomol. 1973;18:445-72 - PubMed
    1. Genetics. 1962 Dec;47:1719-36 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1976 Jul 30;193(4251):419-20 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1968 Nov;61(3):852-9 - PubMed
    1. Oecologia. 1977 Mar;27(1):1-22 - PubMed