Parasitism by the mite Trombidium breei on four U.K. butterfly species

Abstract

Abstract. 1. The incidence of parasitism by larvae of the mite species Trombidium breei was reported in one population of the lycaenid butterfly Polyommatus icarus, four populations of the satyrine butterfly Maniola jurtina, one population of the satyrine butterfly Aphantopus hyperanthus, and two populations of the satyrine butterfly Pyronia tithonus, as well as on one specimen of the dipteran Alophorus hemiptera. A considerable proportion of butterflies (11±50%) was infested in all study populations.2. The pattern of infestation was examined in detail in M. jurtina. Males had a significantly higher incidence of infestation than females, and middle-aged butterflies had a higher incidence of infestation than old or young butterflies. The incidence of infestation peaked in the middle of the flight season, and this seasonal effect was independent of the effect of butterfly age.3. Using a model based on capture±recapture data, it was estimated that a hypothetical ideal male M. jurtina that lives exactly the mean expected lifespan of 9±10 days has an approximately 75% chance of becoming infested with mites at least once during its lifetime, a mean time to first infestation of 3±4 days, and an average infestation persistence time of 2±3 days.4. Capture±recapture data failed to show any effect of mite infestation on the lifespan or within-habitat movement rate of M. jurtina.5. In experiments in which individual butterflies were taken out of their normal habitat and released, M. jurtina and P. tithonus that were infested with mite larvae did not differ from uninfested individuals in the efficiency with which they returned to suitable habitat. Thus, parasitism by T. breei larvae had no detectable effects on flight performance or orientation ability.6. The results suggest that trombidiid mite larvae have limited potential in the biological control of insect pests.

Prevalence and relationship of endosymbiotic Wolbachia in the butterfly genus Erebia

“…Interestingly, for three MLST loci the closest lineage we found was in spider mites (Acari: Trombidiformes; Additional file 1 : Figures S2–S6). This result might implicate that mites cause Wolbachia host switches in Lepidoptera, as mites are common parasites for Lepidoptera [ 32 ] and have been suggested to act as potential vectors for Wolbachia in other arthropod lineages [ 33 ] . However, currently only non-parasitic mites have been genotyped for Wolbachia .…”

Effects of different methods of non-lethal tissue sampling on butterflies

“…We marked and recaptured continuously throughout the flight season. We examined whether a significant difference in wing wear classification (proxy for age; Kemp, 2000; Conradt et al , 2002; Sei, 2008) existed among treatment groups or between sexes, as this could affect their recapture probability, using Pearson's χ 2 tests. We also evaluated whether individuals of a particular treatment group or sex were more likely to become recaptured by comparing (i) the number of times each individual was recaptured (including same day recaptures) and (ii) the total number of different days on which each individual was recaptured among treatments and between sexes.…”

Body Mass and not Wing Length Predicts Territorial Success in a Tropical Satyrine Butterfly

“…We follow Kemp (2003) and use wing wear as an index of butterfly age. This technique has been widely used to estimate age in other butterfly studies (Kemp 2000b, 2005; Conradt et al. 2002).…”

“…We follow Kemp (2003) and use wing wear as an index of butterfly age. This technique has been widely used to estimate age in other butterfly studies (Kemp 2000b(Kemp , 2005Conradt et al 2002). The effect of wing length and wing wear (age) on body mass (response variable) was investigated using analysis of covariance (Zar 1996).…”