Co-occurrence of threeAristolochia-feeding Papilionids(Archon apollinus, Zerynthia polyxenaandZerynthia cerisy)in Greek Thrace

Abstract

Comparative studies of co-occurring species using overlapping resources may help in understanding the mechanisms supporting biotic diversity in species-rich regions, such as the Mediterranean region of Europe. Three Papilionidae butterflies, Archon apollinus, Zerynthia cerisy and Zerynthia polyxena, develop on Aristolochia plants and co-occur in Greek Thrace. We used mark-recapture to describe adult demography and dispersal, and searched for eggs and larvae to assess host plants and microhabitat preferences. Adult flight timing followed a sequence from earliest A. apollinus, through Z. polyxena to late Z. cerisy; this was more prominent in 2010 (warm early spring) than in 2011 (cold delayed spring). Population densities were highest for A. apollinus and lowest for Z. cerisy, whereas dispersal ability followed a reverse pattern. Adults of all three species crossed distances > 3 km and used all habitat types present. Four Aristolochia host plants were used at the study locality: small Aristolochia pallida, intermediate Aristolochia rotunda and Aristolochia hirta, and bulky, late-sprouting Aristolochia clematitis. Both A. apollinus and Z. polyxena used all four Aristolochia species, the former preferring Aristolochia rotunda and Aristolochia hirta, the latter Aristolochia rotunda and Aristolochia pallida. Zerynthia cerisy did not use the early-growing Aristolochia pallida while frequently using the lategrowing Aristolochia clematitis. Further parameters affecting oviposition were biotope and canopy closure: early A. apollinus tolerated shady sites but late Z. cerisy avoided them. The simultaneous use of several host plants differing in phenology and habitat requirements, combined with rather high dispersal ability, arguably buffers the butterflies' population dynamics against yearly variation in weather, while allowing efficient occupation of the diverse Mediterranean landscapes. The regional habitat diversity, created during millennia of human activity, is currently threatened by land abandonment, which may diminish the resource base for the studied butterflies.

Host plant selection and differential survival on two Aristolochia L. species in an insular population of Zerynthia cassandra

“…The preference of more irradiated patches of plants could be explained by a faster development of immatures with warmer temperatures, as seen in other Papilionidae species, namely the larvae of Papilio glaucus (Scriber and Lederhouse 1983) and the pupae of Parnassius mnemosyne (Valimaki and Itamies 2005). In these species, and in Z. polyxena and Z. cerysi as well, a higher concentration of larvae occurs in sunlight areas (Slancarova et al 2015).…”

New approach for butterfly conservation through local field‐based vegetational and entomological data

“…Zerynthia polyxena adults inhabit a wide range of biotopes in Europe (van Sway et al, 2006), including meadows (Vovlas et al, 2014), black locust plantations, and hummocks (Batáry et al, 2008; Örvössy et al, 2014), as well as open woodland and close forest (Slancarova et al, 2015). Conversely to what Hayes et al (2018) found for H. lucina , we found that adults preferred gentler slopes facing southwest or south (see also Weiss et al, 1988) with a modest presence of forest area.…”

“…The State of Nature in the EU (2019)—Article 17 reporting). In Europe, Z. polyxena larvae are oligophagous, feeding on Aristolochia species; often, they are locally monophagous (Piccini et al, 2021; Slancarova et al, 2015; Vovlas et al, 2014). Indeed, Z. polyxena has specialist host plant requirements that are known to make species sensitive to habitat changes (Öckinger et al, 2010).…”

A sunny spot: habitat management through vegetation cuts increases oviposition in abandoned fields in an endemic Mediterranean butterfly

“…Zerynthia cassandra is a sedentary species, with a very limited flying range (up to a few hundred metres; Celik, 2012; Vovlas et al ., 2014), despite longer dispersal events within the range of a few kilometres are possible (e.g. as observed in Z. polyxena in Greece; Slancarova et al ., 2015).…”