摘要或動機

在眾多的蝴蝶中有不少是具有眼斑。傳統上認為眼斑的功能是驚嚇天敵或欺騙天敵。有關眼斑本身結構的瞭解很少。我們利用臺灣及馬祖產的蝴蝶，分別記錄圖鑑上峽蝶、眼蝶及灰蝶合計 60 種以上，以及鳳蝶幼蟲七種的眼斑特性。記錄的眼斑特性包括數目、組成的色彩結構，以及記錄眼斑在翅的腹面或背面明顯。進一步測暈孔雀峽蝶、台灣波眼蝶、蘇鐵小灰蝶等三種蝴蝶的眼斑和翅面積。眼斑在腹面及背面都有，但以腹面明顯者佔多數，而眼斑數 l 一 7 個都有，在後翅者佔多數。眼斑慕本是由數個同心圓組成，分別為輪廓、眼白、虹彩及障孔。在峽蝶及眼蝶的結構都相當完整，輪廓為褐或深褐，眼白為黃色為主，虹彩都為黑色或深褐色，障孔為白色或淡藍色。在灰蝶的眼斑較不完整，大都輪廓不清晰，眼白的黃色或橙色部份比例高，但都缺少障孔。幼蟲有眼斑成蟲不一定有。鳳蝶的幼蟲（ 8 種）都為綠色，其眼斑輪廓黑色，眼白為白色及紅色但明顯比上述成蟲的眼斑之眼白部位要小，而黑色的虹彩都很大。幼蟲的障孔為白色的細線形，我們認為這和立體形狀的幼蟲及成蟲平面翅的差異所造成，在文中也討論到水棲蝶魚的眼斑和蝴蝶眼斑的差異。眼斑和翅面積的相關分析結果變異很大，在統計上正相關及負相關都有。眼斑數目的不定及和翅面積並沒有一定關係，我們討論到蝴蝶的眼斑在不同種類有些可能有求偶生殖上的功能。這方面值得科學家大量投入研究。Quite a few species of butterflies have colorful eyespots on their wings. The main functions of these eyespots were considered to startle or deceive predators by most scientific researchers. In fact, only limited literatures dealt with the basic structure and color patterns of butterfly eyespots. The purpose of this study is to study the basic structure and color patterns of these eyespots. We measured the surface area of eyespots v.s. wings from specimens. From the color plates of Taiwan and Matsu butterfly field guide, we recorded the eyespots either on ventral or dorsal side of wings, and the color patterns for more than 60 species. \r
The number of eyespots on wings varies from I to 7 among individuals we checked. Majority of eyespots were found on ventral side of wings. The basic structure of eyespots were formed by I to 3 concentric circles, i.e., outboundary, cornea, iris and pupil . Pupil was not found in certain species. The color in cornea section is yellow and in iris is black or dark brown. The contrast in these two areas is quite prominent just as the contrast showed in warning coloration of after animals. The pupil is either white of light blue. Caterpillars with eyespots were found in Papilionidae, their adult stage were without this character. We checked 8 species of caterpillars, their basic structure of eyespots were similar to other butterflies, with cornea, iris and pupil. The cornea is either red or white color, and the iris is black in colors. The ratio(iris/cornea) is much higher in caterpillar than in butterfly. The pupil is a thin thread shape instead of a tiny spot like the one in butterfly wings. We discussed the difference of pupil between juveniles and adults from the aspect of dimension structure of a subject. In the paper we also discussed the difference of eyespots between butterfly and butterfly fish in the coral reef. Base on the no significant relationship between the surface area of eyespots and wings. We suspect that butterfly eyespots may have another function, such as intersexual selection between males and females beside startling and deceiving predators.\r