Search results for "Nymphalidae"

Systematic review of the effects of chemical insecticides on four common butterfly families

2017

Safeguarding crop productivity by protecting crops from pest attacks entails the wide use of plant protection products that provide a quick, easy and cheap solution. The objective of this study is to understand the effects of insecticides used in agriculture on non-target butterflies, specifically on the families Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Hesperiidae, and Papilionidae. To achieve this goal, a formal systematic review was performed according to European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) guidelines, by entering a combination of keywords on 3 online databases. Three reviewers independently extracted information on study characteristics and quality. The main results were collected and grouped by the …

The roles of foraging environment, host species, and host diet for a generalist pupal parasitoid

2018

Host plant use by the Heath fritillary butterfly, Melitaea athalia : plant habitat, species and chemistry

2008

We present a study of habitat use, oviposition plant choice, and food plant suitability for the checkerspot butterfly Melitaea athalia Rottemburg (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Aland, Finland. We found that in Aland, unlike in the mainland of Finland and many parts of its range, M. athalia flies mainly in open meadows. When offered an array of plants in a large (32 × 26 m) field cage, they predominately oviposited upon Veronica chamaedrys L., V. spicata L. and Plantago lanceolata L. (Plantaginaceae), which grow in open meadows. The relative abundance of the butterfly in Aland, and its habitat and host plant use there, may reflect local adaptation to land use practices and geology that mainta…

Do avian predators select for seasonal polyphenism in the European map butterfly Araschnia levana (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)?

2012

Seasonal polyphenism in animal colour patterns indicates that temporal variation in selection pressures maintains phenotypic plasticity. Spring generation of the polyphenic European map butterfly Araschnia levana has an orange–black fritillary-like pattern whilst individuals of the summer generation are black with white bands across the wings. What selects for the colour difference is unknown. Because predation is a major selection pressure for insect coloration, we first tested whether map butterfly coloration could have a warning function (i.e. whether the butterflies are unpalatable to birds). In a following field experiment with butterfly dummies we tested whether the spring form is bet…

Significance of butterfly eyespots as an anti-predator device in ground-based and aerial attacks

2003

Many butterfly genera are characterised by the presence of marginal eyespots on their wings. One hypothesis to account for an occurrence of eyespots is that these wing pattern elements are partly the outcome of visual selection by predators. Bicyclus anynana (Satyrinae) has underside spotting on its wings but there is also a seasonal form in which the eyespots are reduced in size or totally absent. This natural variation gives us a useful tool to test the hypothesis that marginal eyespot patterns can decoy the attacking predator by, at least sometimes, diverting attack from vital body parts to the edges of the wings. We used lizards, Anolis carolinensis, and pied flycatchers, Ficedula hypol…

Forests as dispersal barriers for Erebia medusa (Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera)

2000

Summary The nymphalid butterfly Erebia medusa is a typical species of meadows that are poor in nitrogen and fallow land. In forests, it is only found on clearings with meadow-like structures. However, it is missing on wind exposed places, too. 239 imagoes of E. medusa were sampled in the Aggtelek Karst region (north-eastern Hungary) at six different localities at the end of May 1997. The sample sizes varied between 33 and 46. The studied karst area has a typical forest steppe vegetation and is characterised by a mosaic-like distribution of meadows and forests. The sampled butterflies were analysed by allozyme electrophoresis. The level of polymorphism was significantly higher in the samples…