Inspection and evaluation of host plant by the butterfly Mechanitis lysimnia (Nymph., Ithomiinae) before laying eggs: a mechanism to reduce intraspecific competition
Inspection and evaluation of host plant by the butterfly Mechanitis lysimnia (Nymph., Ithomiinae) before laying eggs: a mechanism to reduce intraspecific competition
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蝴蝶 Mechanitis lysimnia (Nymph., Ithomiinae) 在产卵前对寄主植物的检查和评估：减少种内竞争的机制
作者：
J. Vasconcellos‐Neto;R. Monteiro
金龟子雌蛾对茄属寄主植物表现出特有的搜索、观察和评价行为。这种蝴蝶的平均卵窝大小随寄主茄属的种类而变化。卵的窝卵数与雌蛾的产卵量呈正相关。Lysimnia和叶子的数量，表明昆虫的生殖努力和其后代可获得的食物量之间的调整。田间试验表明，蝴蝶能够通过视觉线索识别同种卵簇，并偏好在无卵寄主植物上产卵。在接受两个或更多卵簇的大型植物上，后来的窝比第一窝含有更少的卵。蝴蝶似乎通过检查叶子的数量和检查是否有卵以及可能的毛毛虫来评估食物的数量，然后决定是否产卵以及产卵多少。这些行为机制应该是重要的，在减少直接种内竞争的五个罕见的，小的和短暂的寄主植物物种的这种昆虫。
Females of Mechanitis lysimnia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) show a characteristic searching, inspecting and evaluating behavior on their Solanum host plants. The average egg-clutch size for this butterfly varied with the host species of Solanum. There was a positive relationship between the egg-clutch size of M. lysimnia and the number of leaves, indicating an adjustment between the reproductive effort of the insect and the amount of food available to its offspring. Field experiments showed that butterflies were able to recognize conspecific egg-clusters by visual cues and preferred to lay eggs on egg-free host plants. On large plants that received two or more egg-clusters, later clutches contained fewer eggs than the first one. The butterflies seem to evaluate the amount of food by inspecting the quantity of leaves and by checking for presence or absence of eggs and, possibly, caterpillars before deciding if and how many eggs to lay. These behavioral mechanisms should be important in reducing direct intraspecific competition for the five rare, small and ephemeral host plant species used by this insect.