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Early Stage of Host Range Expansion by a Specialist Herbivore, Euphydryas Phaeton (Nymphalidae)
Author(s) -
Bowers M. Deane,
Stamp Nancy E.,
Collinge Sharon K.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1940758
Subject(s) - nymphalidae , biology , plantaginaceae , plantago , population , ecology , weed , herbivore , botany , larva , scrophulariaceae , butterfly , demography , sociology
We examined whether larval and adult behavior, physiology, and chemical defense were altered as a result of host range expansion by the Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton, Nymphalidae) from the native host plant, turtlehead (Chelone glabra, Scrophulariaceae), to the introduced weed, plantain (Plantago lanceolata, Plantaginaceae). We found that newly hatched larvae from eggs collected from a population using plantain were heavier than those from a population using turtlehead. Nonetheless, both the prediapause and postdiapause larvae derived from the turtlehead population and fed turtlehead in a laboratory experiment gained more mass than those from the plantain population fed plantain. Collections of diapausing larvae from field sites corroborated that pattern. Regardless of the population source (i.e., those using either turtlehead or plantain), postdiapause larvae reared on turtlehead exhibited higher relative growth rate (RGR), efficiency of conversation of digested food (ECI), and efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) than those fed plantain, even though approxi_kw checkerspot butterflies