[leps-talk] MALE x FEMALE emergence

[Anne Kilmer]

Chris J. Durden wrote:

> I once raised *Eumaeus toxeus* on *Dioon edule*. The larvae were 
> gregarious in all instars as they fed on cut leaflets. The eggs are laid 
> in a mass on the cycad in the wild, or in a mass in the envelope. First 
> instar larvae were not interested in feeding until presented with cut 
> leaflets.
> .................Chris Durden


Eumaeus atala is also gregarious; even the pupae hang together. ;-) 
They're terribly toxic, of course, cycad being a splendidly toxic plant. 
  Eggs are laid in a crowd on nasty old leaves. I think the Cycad hastes 
to poison the juicy young leaves if they get chewed on. Older larvae can 
handle it. Mithridates, he died old.
Many of the blues (the ant-tended flower and seed pod feeders) being 
cannibalistic, you wouldn't expect to see them flocking together, unless 
their attendant ants found it convenient.
If an ant tells a caterpillar to eat its spinach and quit looking at its 
little sister that way, the caterpillar does that.
There are blues in the tropics, I've heard, that are herded by ants into 
the nest at night, and herded out again to feed by day. That's forced 
association, I'd say, rather than gregariousness.
The ant/butterfly relationship, incidentally, is mutualism rather than 
symbiosis.
Cheers
Anne Kilmer
May all your blues be butterflies


> 
> At 03:22 PM 5/24/2002 -0300, you wrote:
> 
>> Yes, I agree; indeed , my question was on the oddity of all the 
>> gregarious
>> species that I was able to rear, in diferent families, from egg to pupa
>> (Actinotes run away from each other after 5 th instar) presenting female
>> emergence first. I confess they were not too many. So it would be
>> interesting to know of others in this condition, to see how far the
>> phenomenon is spead out among Lepidoptera; for instance:
>>
>> Asterocampa spp.
>> Eucheira socialis
>> Baronia brevicornis
>> Thaumatopeia sp, (Pine processionary)
>> Dione sp. (Heliconian)
>> Euphydryas spp.
>>
>> Besides: is anyone aware of gregarious Lycaenidae... I can't remember a
>> single one, but there are a few in Riodinidae (or Riodininae?).
>>
>> If there isn't a single gregarious species of Lycaenidae, that would be
>> something really remarkable, for some reason.
>>
>> Jorge
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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