Coevolution of pierid butterflies and their cruciferous foodplants IV. Crucifer apparency and Anthocharis cardamines (L.) oviposition

Abstract

The oviposition behaviour of the butterfly Anthocharis cardamines has been examined, using the methods of strong inference to investigate foodplant choice. Adaptive explanations for females ovipositing mainly on unshaded, young and large individuals of Alliaria petiolata are rejected in favour of explanations based on 'apparency' to searching females. Floral characters shown to influence intraspecific foodplant apparency are then examined in comparisons between crucifer species, and are shown to explain well the observed deposition of A. cardamines eggs. Cruciferae such as Barbarea vulgaris and Hesperis matronalis, although poor for larval survival, receive many butterfly eggs as a result of large, persistent inflorescences. The contrasting and opposing effects of hostplant apparency and defence are discussed.

Evolutionary ecology of the relationship between oviposition preference and performance of offspring in phytophagous insects

“…Observed relationships range from good correspondence between adult preference and some components of larval performance (e.g., Singer, 1972Singer, , 1983Rausher, 1982) to poor correspondence (e.g., Courtney, 1981Courtney, , 1982. In some cases poor correspondence between preference and performance may result from oviposition onto introduced host plants (e.g., Chew, 1977;Legg et al, 1986) or relative rarity of the preferred host (e.g., Williams, 1983).…”

“…That is, studies have generally been designed to ask whether most eggs within the population are found on plant species on which offspring generally do best; the studies do not ask how oviposition preference in an individual female is related to performance of her offspring on the host she chose as compared with other hosts (e.g., Knerer & Atwood, 1973;Courtney, 1981;Rausher, 1982). These population-level studies have been important in testing whether factors other than larval growth rates and pupal masses can contribute to selection for oviposition preference (e.g., Smiley, 1978;Price et al, 1980;Atsatt, 1981a, b;Courtney, 1981;Rausher, 1981;Singer, 1983Singer, , 1984Williams, 1983). As Via (1986) recently emphasized, however, the evolutionary problem is now to understand how different genes for preference and performance are distributed among individuals, not as population averages.…”

Determinants of Multiple Host Use by a Phytophagous Insect Population

“…However, they have not been able to ask whether different insects in a population are following different behavioral rules, i.e., have different preferences. The works of Stanton (1982) on Colias philodice, Courtney (1982) on Anthocharis cardamines, Wiklund (1977) on Leptidea sinapis and Davis (1982) on Danaus gilippus all fall into this category.…”

Prior flea beetle herbivory affects oviposition preference and larval performance of a potato beetle on their shared host plant

“…Wiklund, 1975;Courtney, 1981;Leather, 1985;Ohsaki & Sato, 1994). While many investigations of preference±performance correlations have focused on insect choices among different host plant species, far fewer have looked at these correlations involving choices among variable plants of a single host species (reviewed by Thompson, 1988;Courtney & Kibota, 1990;Mayhew, 1997).…”