giant swallowtail returns

[Christopher Erickson]

Being a complete amateur, I offer another possibility -- evolution is a
constrained maximization process so that a mechanism that was perfect at
selecting a species for egg laying might "crowd out" some other important
behavior thereby reducing the overall survivability of the species.
Paul Cherubini <paulcher at CONCENTRIC.NET> wrote in message
news:37828249.7210 at concentric.net...
> Chris Conlan wrote:
>
> > Another thing worth noting is that I think we give the butterflies too
much
> > credit in botany class!  They are good but I have seen them lay on the
wrong
> > (and unacceptable) host many times.
>
> Ditto here. Virtually every year I see a Tiger Swallowtail or Two Tailed
Swallowtail lay
> one egg (and curiously just one egg) on my backyard butterfly bushes
(Buddleia) which
> is an unsuitable swallowtail larval host plant.
>
> > However, one has to
> > wonder if there isn't some sort of purpose to this.
>
> Perhaps it's partly a practical thing too--if there are moments in her
life when she is in a
> kind of butterfly labor...then maybe getting the botany exactly right may
not be a big
> priority.
>
> Paul Cherubini
>