Immature stages of Parrhasius polibetes (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): host plants, tending ants, natural enemies and morphology

Abstract

Natural history and immature stage morphology of the facultative myrmecophilous butterfly Parrhasius polibetes (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) are described and illustrated through both light and scanning electron microscopy. Larvae underwent four instars. At the third instar, the dorsal nectar organ became present and functional, and larvae were facultatively tended by several ant species, those also tending plants bearing extrafloral nectaries and honeydew-producing hemipterans. Larvae were florivorous and polyphagous at the species level, using at least 44 species of plants in 19 families. Most host plants (∼ 89%) had some type of ant-attractive features, such as extrafloral nectaries or ant-tended treehoppers. The host range of this butterfly species allows the use of floral resources throughout the year. Food sources that promote ant visitation, flower bud morphology and phenology appear to be related to the evolution and maintenance of polyphagy in this butterfly species.

Keywords:

• Eumaeini
• florivory
• parasitoids, polyphagy
• symbiosis

Acknowledgements

We thank Laboratório Síncrotron for allowing us to work in its cerrado area, and Instituto de Botânica de São Paulo for giving permission to work at the Reserva Biológica and Estação Experimental de Mogi-Guaçu. Special thanks to Paulo S. Oliveira for encouragement to study this fascinating butterfly-ant system. The manuscript was improved by comments from Marcelo Duarte, Karina Silva-Brandão, José Roberto Trigo, and two anonymous reviewers. We are also grateful to several experts for plant and insect identification: Gustavo Shimizu, Jorge Tamashiro, Marcos Sobral, and Maria Mamede for plants; Olivia Evangelista de Souza for treehoppers; Rogério Silva, Rodrigo Feitosa, and Ana Gabriela Bieber for ants; Ayres Menezes Jr., Angelica Penteado-Dias, and Valmir Costa for wasps; Silvio Nihei for flies; Adriano Cavalleri for bugs. Adilson Moreira, Adriano Cavalleri, Alexandra Bächtold, Cora Caron, Jorge Bizarro, Luísa Mota, Neuza Silva, Sebastian Sendoya, and Sabrina Thiele assisted us in the field and in the lab. LAK thanks Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq 140183/2006-0) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 08/54058-1 and 10/51340-8), and DR acknowledges FAPESP (07/07802-4). AVLF was supported by CNPq (300282/2008-7) and FAPESP (04/05269-9). This publication is part of the RedeLep “Rede Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Lepidópteros” SISBIOTA-Brasil/CNPq (563332/2010-7), and BIOTA-FAPESP Program (11/50225-3).