Chilades pandava mothers discriminate among Cycas species during oviposition choice tests, but only in an endemic naïve population

Abstract

Host and non-host plant species communicate with insect herbivores to influence oviposition decisions. We studied if Chilades pandava female adults expressed oviposition preferences among host Cycas species in 2 choice tests, counting 39,420 eggs among assays from 4 butterfly populations. A naïve butterfly population from Cycas nongnoochiae habitat oviposited 2.2-fold more eggs on leaves of Cycas species that are susceptible to butterfly herbivory than on leaves of its native host Cycas nongnoochiae. In contrast, Chilades pandava populations experienced with novel Cycas species in Thailand, Philippines, and Guam exhibited no preference in choice tests between leaves of susceptible versus leaves of minimally damaged Cycas species. The results indicated that oviposition deterrents and/or stimulants partly mediate the sustainable relationship between an endemic Cycas species and the naïve Chilades pandava population from its habitat. Alternatively, differences in infochemicals among Cycas species do not enable discrimination in oviposition choices for Chilades pandava populations that have experienced Cycas species exhibiting no evolutionary history with Chilades pandava.

Diversity in Cycas (Cycadales: Cycadaceae) Species Offered as Larval Food Influences Fecundity of Chilades pandava (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) Adults

“…We added this secondary objective because C pandava female adult oviposition choices were beneficial for offspring in the wild population but were muted in the experienced Garden population which was fed with a mixed diet. 10 The predictions from our secondary objective were not confirmed, and the benefits from high-quality larval food to adult fecundity were realized in a similar fashion for both populations of butterflies.…”