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Prealighting Search Behavior and Host Plant Selection by Ovipositing Euphydryas editha Butterflies
Author(s) -
Mackay Duncan A.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1941314
Subject(s) - nymphalidae , host (biology) , ecology , biology , habitat , butterfly , population , selection (genetic algorithm) , demography , sociology , artificial intelligence , computer science
The relative contributions of nonrandom movement and alighting to prealighting host discrimination by ovipositing Euphydryas editha butterflies were examined. A montane California population of butterflies was studied at two sites in adjacent habitats. In each study site, only one host plant species was used by the butterflies; in one site the host was the annual Collinsia torreyi, in the other it was the perennial Pedicularis semibarbata. In the Pedicularis study site, butterflies discriminated in favor of the host both by searching in areas where it was dense and by alighting preferentially on host plants. In the Collinsia study site, no evidence of a significant prealighting discrimination towards hosts was obtained. The reasons for this difference are discussed; it is suggested that the suitability of Collinsia as a host has increased recently, but that the butterflies have not yet evolved behavioral mechanisms of prealighting search that would enable them to locate these plants efficiently.