ants and b'flys

[Neil Jones]

On Wednesday 01 May 2002 04:09 pm, Anne Kilmer wrote:
> bstout at news-press.com wrote:

> Some blue butterflies, Britain's Large Blue, for instance, must have the
> tending of those ants. And the Large Blue was extirpated because its
> pastures were mowed rather than grazed; a different ant moved in and
> that ant, while it did indeed carry the caterpillar into its nest,
> butchered and ate it.
> That Blue has been successfully re-established, I understand.
> Incidentally, when the butterfly emerges from its pupa, down there in
> the dark, the ants don't recognize it as their old buddy, and it has to
> hustle for the surface while they try to grab it. It has a lot of
> break-away scales which give it a chance to get away.

Actually it is a little more complicated. Whilst some of the meadows may have 
been mowed ( I don't know any actual cases) It is actually the ground 
temperature that is critical. Cessation of grazing had a big effect.
The Large Blue's favoured ant Sabuleti's Elbowed Red Ant.
Requires warm temperatures long  grass tends to cool the ground.
One of the factors in the loss of sites was the killing off of the rabbit 
population by Myxomatosis.

Some of the Large Blue's relatives like the Rebeli Blue have taken it one 
step further and actually get the ants to feed the caterpillars . The 
butterfly equivalent of the Cuckoo. It uses a slightly different ant species.
To be more precise it may use several different ant species depending on 
where it occurs or there may be some crypto-species still to be detected.

http://www.wildlifewebsite.com/butterflies/rebeli-blue.html

For those people who like "Latin" names. 
The Large Blue is Maculinea arion. The Rebeli Blue is Maculinea rebeli
and the ant is Myrmica sabuleti.

--
Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.butterflyguy.com/
NOTE NEW WEB ADDRESS
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve

 
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