butterfly prenatal development

Thu Aug 7 09:21:15 EDT 2003

OK, I'll bite.  Isn't there a little bitty larva in an egg when it is laid?
What distinguishes this from what is being referred to?  Or is there some
unformed pre-larva in butterfly eggs that has to finish developing before it
hatches?  Is this stage of development between laying an egg and hatching of
that egg consistent across the different butterfly families?  Across
latitudes within a species?

Jim Mason, Naturalist
Jim at gpnc.org
Great Plains Nature Center
6232 E. 29th Street North
Wichita, KS 67220-2200
316-683-5499 x103 - voice
316-688-9555 - fax
www.gpnc.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Gochfeld" <gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu>
To: "Norbert Kondla" <colias at shaw.ca>
Cc: "Lepstalk" <TILS-leps-talk at yahoogroups.com>; "WCanButterflies"
<WCanButterflies at yahoogroups.com>; <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>;
<wander at tellurian.com>; "Williams" <williams.christopher at worldnet.att.net>;
<bmurray at rci.rutgers.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 4:14 PM
Subject: LATE Blue Grass and early skippers--another insight.

> With regard to how Cobweb and Dusted Skippers get to use Bluestem grass
> which doesn't green up until mid-summer (at least in NJ), Norbert
> suggested a uique strategy:
>
> The larva-in-egg option is one I hadn't thought about. It's sort of an
> analogue to ovoviviparity in some vertebrates where the eggs hatch in
> the female body and live young emerge.
>
> Ironically, we cited a reference in Butterflies of New Jersey by
> Heitzman and Heitzman (1969--a life history of Hesperia metea)) who
> reported that the half-developed larvae of Cobweb Skipper bury deeply
> into the base of a Bluegrass clump, where they estivate.  They hibernate
> in the center of the grass plant in a sealed silk, chamber.  In spring
> the larvae emerge and pupate immediately. That doesn't get us out of the
> blind that the half-developed larvae are doing their first half of
> development early.  So we need to establish when the egg hatches and
> whether it pulls a "Dione Copper ploy" as Norbert describes below.
>
> Norbert Kondla wrote:
> >
> > Re. below, fascinating. One possible explanation is as follows: in a
> > case where the adults fly in the spring and there is no green foliage of
> > the suspected host grass to sustain the larvae the same spring, then the
> > larvae cannot be using said suspected host prior to the presence of
> > green foliage. What they could be doing is using the green foliage later
> > in the season when it is available and then overwintering in a larval or
> > pupal stage until adult emergence the following spring. Or they could be
> > eating other grasses prior to the bluestem greenup. An interesting
> > snippet that I learned within the past year is that some butterflies
> > that overwinter as an egg really do not overwinter as an egg at all. The
> > case of Lycaena dione Dione Copper as reported to me by Sue Borkin from
> > her research. The 'egg' actually turns into a larva within the egg
> > casing prior to winter; so the overwintering 'egg' is no longer an 'egg'
> > even though it looks that way from the outside. Who would have thunk it
> > :-) This makes me wonder how many other butterflies that are reported to
> > winter as eggs actually winter as larvae within the egg casing --- so
> > getting back to the skippers mentioned below the eggs laid by the adults
> > in the spring could remain as eggs until the host grass is greening up
> > or they could develop into larvae within the egg casing, waiting for the
> > right environmental cue to emerge and start chomping on the fresh
> > greenery
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Michael Gochfeld [mailto:gochfeld at EOHSI.RUTGERS.EDU]
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 4:59 AM
> > To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu; WCanButterflies at yahoogroups.com; Lepstalk
> > Subject: [leps-talk] LATE Blue Grass and early skippers
> >
> > The convergence of two events leads me to pose a puzzling question that
> > I'm
> > sure some list members can answer.
> >
> > I have been studying grasses, and on a recent (mid-July) field trip,
> > noted
> > that the green tips of new growth of bluestems (Andropogon virginicus
> > and
> > Schizachyium scoparium (excuse spelling) were just beginning to show
> > amid the
> > clumps of last years vegetation (central New Jersey).
> >
> > Last night at our local NABA meeting, Sharon Wander gave a
> > well-illustrated
> > talk on larval hosts of NJ butterflies.  She highlighted several
> > possibly
> > obligate bluestem feeders among which are two of our earliest skippers
> > (Cobweb flying mainly in April and Dusted flying mainly in May).
> >
> > So how do these early fliers do it.  It's easy enough to locate
> > bluestems,
> > one or more species are widespread.  But when these species are flying
> > (up
> > until mid-June at the latest) the only apparent clue is the dead
> > foliage.
> >
> > If the larvae hatch quickly they won't have any green growth to sustain
> > them.  I couldn't find a statement on how long it takes the eggs of
> > these
> > species to hatch---they'd have to be dormant for weeks, or the first
> > instar
> > would have to take a prolonged nap before it found something to eat.
> >
> > Or could they be eating something else at the earliest stages.  MIKE
> > GOCHFELD
> >
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