Diversity, Ecology and Herbivory of Hairstreak Butterflies (Theclinae) Associated with the Velvet Tree,Miconia calvescensin Costa Rica

Abstract

Larvae of three species of hairstreak butterflies in the subfamily Theclinae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) were found feeding on developing inflorescences, flower buds, and immature fruits of the velvet tree, Miconia calvescens DC. (Myrtales: Melastomataceae) in Costa Rica. Erora opisena (Druce), Parrhasius polibetes (Cramer), and Temecla paron (Godman and Salvin) were studied in association with M. calvescens, an uncommon tree in its natural range in the neotropics and a target for biocontrol as an invader in Pacific islands. Host plant use by the three theclines was similar, with eggs being laid on inflorescences and cryptic larvae remaining there throughout development. Feeding damage by E. opisena was most abundant in pre-flowering M. calvescens, when 23% of inflorescences showed feeding damage characteristic of this species. Feeding damage by T. paron peaked at flowering, when 30% of inflorescences were affected. At field sites, E. opisena and T. paron damaged an average of 26 and 18% of each attacked inflorescence, respectively. In cage experiments, individual third- and fourth-instar larvae of E. opisena damaged an average of 24 and 21% of an inflorescence before pupating, respectively. This study provides the first host plant record for E. opisena and T. paron, the first record of P. polibetes feeding on Melastomataceae, and the first records of E. opisena and T. paron presence in Costa Rica.

Four Commonly Confused Hairstreaks (Lycaenidae, Theclinae, Eumaeini): Three Need Names, One Does Not

“…23E and F) that is typical of this wasp subfamily (Zaldívar-Riverón et al 2008, Townsend andShaw 2009). The adults of the genus Conura Spinola (Chalcididae) commonly emerge from the pupa of their lycaenid host (Monteiro 1991, Badenes-Pérez et al 2010, Kaminski et al 2010a, and in this study, all wasps of this genus emerged through an oval opening at the lateral of the thorax (Fig. 23C and D).…”

“…Although, the importance of information on immature stages for resolving taxonomic and phylogenetic groups has been established , such data are generally unavailable, especially in the Neotropics, which has the highest richness of these species (Calvo 1998, Pierce et al 2002, Robbins 2004a, Duarte and Robbins 2009, Badenes-Pérez et al 2010, Kaminski et al 2012). …”

Florivorous myrmecophilous caterpillars exploit an ant–plant mutualism and distract ants from extrafloral nectaries

“…), whereas Ectatomma may prey on caterpillars (Robbins ); ii) that ants should be consistently concentrated in inflorescences with riodinids (ant‐monopolization) and (iii) that riodinids themselves should inflict high florivory rates in plants (like their sister group Lycaenidae – Badenes‐Pérez et al . ), compared to other herbivores. In the field, we examined the behaviour of ants towards riodinids to see whether ants consistently attended caterpillars, what would be evidence of stable ant–larvae relationships (i.e.…”

Lycaenid caterpillars (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) eating flowers of Dalea pennellii var. chilensis (Fabaceae) in the northern Chilean Andes

“…For instance, Lycaenidae was mentioned as the third most important lepidopteran family in number of flower-feeding species in an area of the Brazilian cerrado near Brasilia (Morais et al 2009). This specialized feeding behaviour is apparently widespread among the larvae of Neotropical Eumaeini (Badenes-Pérez et al 2010;Kaminski & Freitas 2010;Kaminski et al , 2012Kaminski et al , 2013Silva et al 2011;Bächtold et al 2013;Robbins & Glassberg 2013;Vargas & Duarte 2014) and Polyommatini (Benyamini 1995;Duarte et al 2001;Vargas & Parra 2009). Higher concentrations of proteins and amino acids and lower levels of alkaloids have been mentioned as possible causes underlying the specialization of lycaenid larvae to feed on rapidly differentiating plant tissue, as flowers or developing fruits (Chew & Robbins 1984).…”