生物的分布可顯示生物適應某環境條件後的生理特性與分布限制等，其中生物間斷分布的形成原因包含長距離擴散與隔離分化。依照間斷分布之生物的整體形態相似度與分布地理區的形成歷史可推測生物形成間斷分布的機制。大白斑蝶族群隔離分布於太平洋西部的琉球群島、台灣及菲律賓地區，這些島嶼的形成先後與海平面上升將陸地隔離的先後有關。本研究以地標點分析不同族群─沖繩群島、八重山群島、台灣東北角、綠島、蘭嶼、恆春半島及菲律賓─的大白斑蝶翅紋相似程度，檢測大白斑蝶族群的形成先後，推論其間斷分布的形成機制是隔離分化、一次擴散事件或多次擴散事件。亦針對幼蟲的形態加以分析，探討不同地點之間幼蟲形態上的差異。根據成蝶前翅群集分析、主成分分析、典型變異分析結果顯示大白斑蝶之間斷分布至少由兩次擴散事件所造成。成蝶前翅以PERMANOVA分析結果顯示所有族群之間皆有顯著差異，而幼蟲形態分析之結果顯示，部分族群之間有顯著差異。其中幾乎所有的分析結果皆顯示綠島為獨立的族群，因此支持1928年楚南所提出的分類處理。其他分類與保育議題於文中有進一步討論。

Species distribution usually reflects its physiological characters and survival restriction under environmental conditions. Disjunct distribution of species can be resulted from long-distance dispersal or vicariance. According to the phylogeny of the species and the history of its geographical distribution areas, we can infer which mechanism may be responsible to disjunct distribution of the species. Idea leuconoe, a famous butterfly belonging to Nymphalidae, form isolated populations on isolated on islands of Southeast Asia. The forming series of Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan was caused by sea level changes and volcanic events in the different geological time. In this study, land-mark analysis was used to evaluate the wing pattern similarity between different populations of Idea leuconoe including Okinawa Island, Yaeyama Island, northeastern Taiwan, Green Island, Ochid Island and Hengchun Peninsula. Three alternative hypothesized mechanisms causing disjunct distribution of I. leuconoe were tested. The variation of larval morphology at different site were also examined. The results of cluster analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) support that the disjunct distribution of I. leuconoe was caused by at least two dispersal events. Taxonomic treatments proposed by Sonan, who regarded the Green Island population as a uniqual subspecies was supported by all analysis in this study. The details of taxonomy and conservation issue are also discussed herein.

白九維，王效岳。2001。台灣產斑蝶亞科 (鱗翅目：蛺蝶科) 分類系統和外生殖器形態。國立台灣博物館年刊，44：55-69。
林朝棨，周瑞燉。1974。台灣地質。台灣省文獻委員會印行，450頁。
楚南仁博。1928。日本產オホゴマダテ Hestiaの分類學的研究及び分布に就いて。動物学雑誌，40(481)：457-469。
Ackery PR, Vane-Wright RI. 1984. Milkweed butterflies. British Museum (Natural History). pp. 67-71.
Anderson MJ. 2001. A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecology 26:32-46.
Angielczyk KD, Feldman CR, Miller GR. 2011. Adaptive evolution of plastron shape in emydine turtles. Evolution 65: 377-394.
Chen SC, Ou-Yang SC, Wang SY, Huang SY, Ho SR, Huang SJ, Shih CY, Chen WJ. 2003. Effect of temperature on development of Idea leuconoe clara (Butler) (Lepidoptera: Danaidae). Formosan Entomology 23: 331-351.
Cowie RH, Holland BS. 2006. Dispersal is fundamental to biogeography and the evolution of biodiversity on oceanic islands. Journal of Biogeography 33: 193-198.
Cox CB, Moore PD. 2010. Biogeography: an ecological and evolutionary approach. Eighth edition. pp. 203-204. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Dunn OJ. 1964. Multiple comparisons using rank sums. Technometrics 6(3): 241-252.
Ehrlich PR, Raven PH. 1969. Differentiation of populations. Science 165: 1228-1232.
Friesen VL, Burg TM, McCoy KD. 2007. Mechanisms of population differentiation in seabirds. Molecular Ecology 16: 1765-1785.
Hammer Ø, Harper DAT, Ryan PD. 2001. PAST: Paleontological Statistics Software Package for Education and Data Analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4(1): 9.
Holloway JD. 1982. Mobile organisms in a geologically complex area: Lepidoptera in the Indo-Australian tropics. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 76: 353-373.
Hsu YF. 1999. Butterflies of Taiwan. VolumeⅠ. Fong-Huang-Ku Birds Park of Taiwan Provincial Government. pp. 252-255.
Jackson DA. 1993. Stopping rules in principal components analysis: a comparison of heuristical and statistical approaches. Ecology 74:2204-2214.
Kimura M. 2000. Paleogeography of the Ryukyu Islands. Tropics 10: 5-24.
Kitching IJ, Vane-Wright RI, Ackery PR. 1987. The cladistics of Ideas (Lepidoptera, Danainae). Cladistics 3(1): 14-34.
Kodandaramaiah U, Wahlberg N. 2007. Out-of-Africa origin and dispersal-mediated diversification of the butterfly genus Junonia (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae). Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20: 2181-2191.
Kruskal WH, Wallis WA. 1952. Use of ranks in one-criterion variance analysis. Journal of the American Statistical Association 47: 583-621.
Lin SM, Chen CA, Lue KY. 2002. Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the grass lizards genus Takydromus (Reptilia: Lacertidae) of East Asia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 22(2): 276-288.
Morishita K. 1985. Butterflies of the South East Asian islands. VolumeⅡ. Danaidae. Plapac. Co. Ltd. pp. 518-520.
Murayama S, Shimonoya T. 1966. Some Formosan butterflies of new species, new race, new aberrant from or little known species and forms. Tyô to Ga. 16: 58-67.
Nijhout HF. 2001. Elements of Butterfly Wing Patterns. Journal of Experimental Zoology 291: 213-225.
Ota H. 1998. Geographic patterns of endemism and speciation in amphibians and reptiles of the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, with special reference to their paleogeographical implications. Researches on population ecology 40(2): 189-204.
Ponton D. 2006. Is geometic morphometrics efficient for comparing otolith shape of different fish species? Journal of morphology 267: 750-757.
Rohlf FJ, Slice D. 1990. Extensions of the Procrustes method for the optimal superimposition of landmarks. Systematic Zoology 39:40-59.
Rohlf FJ. 1993. Relative warp analysis and an example of its application to mosquito wings. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales 8: 131-159.
Rohlf FJ. 2006. Tps-Dig version 2.10. http://life. Bio. sunysb. edu/morph/index. html.
Sanmartín I, van der Mark P, Ronquist F. 2008. Inferring dispersal: a Bayesian approach to phylogeny-based island biogeography, with special reference to the Canary Islands. Journal of Biogeography 35: 428-449.
Shepherd LD, de Lange PJ, Perrie LR. 2009. Multiple colonization of a remote oceanic archipelago by one species: how common is long-distance dispersal? Journal of Biogeography 36: 1972-1977.
Shirôzu T, Ueda K. 1992. Nymphalidae. pp. 140 – 150. In: Heppner, J. B. & H. Inoue (eds.). Lepidoptera of Taiwan, Vol. 1, Part 2: Checklist. Association for Tropical Lepidoptera.
Talbot G. 1941. Revidional notes on the genus Idea Fabr. (Lep. Rhop. Danaidae). The Royal Entomological Society of London 91(1): 105-117.
Toda M, Nishida M, Tu MC, Hikida T, Ota H. 1999. Genetic variation, phylogeny and biogeography of the pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus sensu lato (Reptilia: Viperidae) in the subtropical East Asian islands. In “Tropical Island Herpetofauna-Origin, Current Diversity, and Conservation” (Ota H. Ed.) Elsevier, Amsterdam. pp. 249-270.
Tsai PC. 1992. Introduction to the Ecology of butterflies. Kenting National Park Education Series. No. 3. Second Edition. pp. 183. Kenting Publishing, Pingtung, Taiwan.
Verhulst S, Perrins CM, Riddington R. 1997. Natal dispersal of great tits in a patchy environment. Ecology 78(3): 864-872.