1. Potential host range of myrmecophilous Arhopala butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) feeding on Macaranga myrmecophytes.
- Author
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Shimizu-kaya, Usun, Okubo, Tadahiro, Inui, Yoko, and Itioka, Takao
- Subjects
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BUTTERFLIES , *INSECT feeding & feeds , *MACARANGA , *PREDATION , *INSECT larvae , *INSECT-plant symbiosis - Abstract
“Plant-ants”, i.e. those symbiotic with myrmecophyte plants, defend their hosts against herbivores. Plant-ants are expected to affect the host-plant ranges of herbivores that feed on myrmecophytes. This study aimed to experimentally determine whether anti-herbivore defences by plant-ants restrict the larval host-plant ranges of fourArhopala(Lycaenidae) butterflies that feed onMacaranga(Euphorbiaceae) trees, some of which are myrmecophytes. We fedArhopalalarvae with the leaves of fiveMacarangaspecies under ant-excluded conditions to examine their potential host-plant ranges. Under ant-excluded conditions, threeArhopalaspecies survived to the pupal stage when fed species not used in the field as well as their normal host species. Our data suggested that the aggressive behaviours of plant-ants towards leaf-feeding insects restrict the potential host-plant ranges of someMacaranga-feedingArhopalabutterflies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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