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Components of Conspecific Host Discrimination Behavior in the Butterfly Battus Philenor
Author(s) -
Papaj Daniel R.,
Rausher Mark D.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1939254
Subject(s) - host (biology) , butterfly , biology , lepidoptera genitalia , ecology , enclosure , juvenile , zoology , telecommunications , computer science
The hypothesis that pipevine swallowtail butterflies (Battus philenor) discriminate among Aristolochia reticulata host plants according to their suitability for juvenile survival was investigated under field and enclosure conditions. Butterflies discriminated among host plants differing in leaf quality both before and after landing. Over 3 yr of field observations, the host plants on which females landed and oviposited were smaller, possessed longer buds, and bore a higher percentage of high—quality leaves than host plants on which females landed but left without depositing eggs. Similarly, the host plants on which females landed in those years were not a random sample of the host plants available in the habitat. Plants on which the butterflies alighted bore a higher percentage of high—quality leaves, a lower percentage of low—quality leaves, and longer buds than their nearest neighbors that were not landed upon. These characteristics were associated with differences in expected larval growth and survival. Field and enclosure experiments in which variation in certain plant characters was manipulated independently of variation in other plant characters generally confirmed these results. Enclosure studies suggested strongly that females learned to land on particular host types according to the responses those plants had elicited after previous alightings. The implications of that finding for models of the evolution of pre—alighting and post—alighting components of discrimination behavior are discussed.