Host Quality in the Development Cycle of Battus Polydamas (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae: Troidini)

Abstract

Spanish

The selection of a host is an important factor affecting the probability of survival of an herbivore. Its influence is greater on highly monophagous guests. Battus polydamas is a holigophagous herbivore on 24 species of Aristolochia, a toxic plant and frequent Troidini host. The large number of host species suggest that many species of Aristolochia are suitable as hosts and do not significantly affect survival probabilities of their guest. We examined two questions: Does B. polydamas exhibit a preference for host species? and What effect does the host have on butterfly development? We studied oviposition and herbivory by B. polydamas on eight species of Aristolochia. All species of Aristolochia were natural hosts, but there were significant differences between Aristolochia species with respect to the number of clusters laid. The butterflies preferred the apical zone for laying eggs. We measured host preference of eight species of Aristolochia by measuring leaf areas for those portions that had been consumed; leaves were administered simultaneously to different caterpillar groups (caterpillars for each group were from different clutches). Leaf nutritional quality was measured by the growth and development of caterpillar groups fed on a single specie of Aristolochia. We didn't observe significant differences between consumption rates of leaves, but the caterpillars attained the pupae stage on only three species of Aristolochia. Caterpillar development was faster in the host with lower sclerophile. We observed a close relation between sclerophile levels and oviposition and herbivory preferences, but that wasn't the only determining factor. Hosts don't offer an equal survival possibility. Female butterflies could use a suboptimal host when an ideal one wasn't present; then, they do deposit their eggs on flowers or young leaves. We concluded that female butterflies exhibit preferences for species of Aristolochia that provided higher survival probabilities.

Keywords

Herbivory Troidini Aristolochiaceae Oligophagous Oviposition preferences Eating preferences Plant-butterfly relation

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