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Lycaenid Butterflies (lycaenid + butterfly)
Selected AbstractsOviposition preference and larval performance within a diverging lineage of lycaenid butterfliesECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Matthew L. Forister Abstract. 1. The butterfly genus Mitoura in Northern California includes three nominal species associated with four host plants having parapatric or interdigitated ranges. Genetic analyses have shown the taxa to be very closely related, and adults from all host backgrounds will mate and produce viable offspring in the laboratory. Oviposition preference and larval performance were investigated with the aim of testing the hypothesis that variation in these traits can exist in a system in which non-ecological barriers to gene flow (i.e. geographic barriers and genetic incompatibilities) appear to be minimal. 2. Females were sampled from 12 locations throughout Northern California, including sympatric and parapatric populations associated with the four different host-plant species. Oviposition preference was assayed by confining wild-caught females with branches of all four host species and counting the number of eggs laid on each. Offspring were reared on the same host species and two measures of larval success were taken: per cent survival and pupal weight. 3. For populations associated with one of the hosts, incense cedar, the preference,performance relationship is simple: the host that females chose is the plant which results in the highest pupal weights for offspring. The preference,performance relationship for populations associated with the other hosts is more complex and may reflect different levels of local adaptation. The variation in preference and performance reported here suggests that these traits can evolve when non-ecological barriers to gene flow are low, and that differences in these traits may be important for the evolution of reproductive isolation within Mitoura. [source] The significance of wing pattern diversity in the Lycaenidae: mate discrimination by two recently diverged speciesJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2002J. A. Fordyce Abstract Closely related species of lycaenid butterflies are determinable, in part, by subtle differences in wing pattern. We found that female wing patterns can act as an effective mate-recognition signal in some populations of two recently diverged species. In field experiments, we observed that males from a Lycaeides idas population and an alpine population of L. melissa preferentially initiate courtship with conspecific females. A morphometric study indicated that at least two wing pattern elements were important for distinguishing the two species: hindwing spots and orange crescent-shaped pattern elements called aurorae. We deceived male L. idas into initiating courtship with computer generated paper models of heterospecific females when these pattern elements were manipulated, indicating that the wing pattern elements that define the diversity of this group can be effective mate recognition signals. [source] Genetic differentiation among the Maculinea species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in eastern Central EuropeBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2007KATALIN PECSENYE The present study aimed to analyse the level of genetic variation in the eastern Central European (Slovenia, Hungary, and Romania/Transylvania) populations of the Large Blues (Maculinea) to analyse the pattern of differentiation both between and within the species. One objective was to compare the level of differentiation between the two disputed species (Maculinea alcon and Maculinea rebeli) with that among the other species. Imagos were collected from 23 localities in eastern Central Europe in 2002. Enzyme polymorphism was analysed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fourteen enzyme loci were studied in all samples. In the analysis of the data, F -statistics and Nei's genetic distances were calculated and a dendrogram (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean) was constructed on the basis of the distance matrix. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed to study the pattern of genetic differentiation among the samples. Principal component analysis analysis was also carried out using the allele frequency data of the samples. Our results indicated that the large blues are generally less polymorphic than other European lycaenid butterflies studied. At the same time, the level of genetic differentiation was high, even among local populations within the species. A low level of genetic variation within the populations coupled with strong differentiation among them implies the effect of genetic drift. Strong genetic differentiation of four Maculinea species (M. alcon, Maculinea teleius, Maculinea nausithous, and Maculinea arion) was confirmed. Significant differentiation was not found between M. alcon and M. rebeli. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 91, 11,21. [source] Dynamics in a butterfly,plant,ant system: influence of habitat characteristics on turnover rates of the endangered lycaenid Maculinea alconECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 5 2007JAN CHRISTIAN HABEL Abstract 1.,Maculinea alcon, a myrmecophilic, stenotopic lycaenid butterfly is restricted to wet heathlands, bogs, and nutrient-poor hay meadows. Due to intensification of agriculture and decrease of extensively grazed meadows, many suitable habitats have disappeared and the remaining ones are highly fragmented and deteriorated. 2.,Historical distribution data and a comparison with the present occupation of patches show the decline of this critically endangered butterfly in north-west Germany. Most of the populations in north-west Germany are small and often geographically isolated. 3.,In summer 2002, two-thirds of 77 investigated potential patches were unoccupied as a result of unsuitable habitat structure and habitat fragmentation. 4.,Several habitat parameters were highly significantly correlated with the presence of M. alcon, in particular the distribution pattern of the host plant Gentiana pneumonanthe. Furthermore, butterflies were absent from many patches with an incidence probability below 50% with respect to patch size and isolation. 5.,In the nature reserve Lüneburger Heide, part of the study area, M. alcon populations have been observed since 1995. Typical turnover of local populations could be detected during these years. Extinctions and re-colonisations have stabilised the presence of this species in a metapopulation in this nature reserve. 6.,These data show the importance of different factors on different spatial levels influencing the presence of this endangered butterfly. [source] | ||||||||||