Stanton Maureen L, Cook Robert E
Dept. of Biology, Harvard University, The Biological Laboratories, 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA.
The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, 81224, Crested Butte, CO, USA.
Oecologia. 1983 Dec;60(3):365-370. doi: 10.1007/BF00376853.
Egg-laying females of the legume-feeding butterfly Colias philodice eriphyle were observed within a high-altitude study site during 1977 and 1978. Average oviposition selectivity showed two pattern sof seasonal variation. First, second brood females laid eggs more frequently after alighting upon hostplants than did first brood females in both years. Second, a consistent decline in post-alighting oviposition probability near the end of the second brood corresponded with a dramatic decrease in the water content of hostplant foliage near the end of the dry summer season. In addition to seasonal variation in oviposition behavior, individual females landed and oviposited upon widely varying sets of legume hostplant species. By sampling hostplant abundances along the flightpaths of observed females, we show that individuals varied in their tendency to land upon different hostplants. Females tended to specialize upon one or two species, at least in the short term, and the pattern of oligophagy for the population as a whole is partly generated by variation in the host-seeking behavior of individual females.
1977年和1978年期间，在一个高海拔研究地点观察了以豆科植物为食的蝴蝶——爱里科利亚粉蝶（Colias philodice eriphyle）的产卵雌蝶。平均产卵选择性呈现出两种季节性变化模式。首先，在这两年中，第二代雌蝶比第一代雌蝶在落到寄主植物上后更频繁地产卵。其次，在第二代末期，落到寄主植物上后产卵概率持续下降，这与干燥夏季末期寄主植物叶片含水量的急剧下降相对应。除了产卵行为的季节性变化外，个体雌蝶在种类繁多的豆科寄主植物上着陆并产卵。通过对观察到的雌蝶飞行路径沿线的寄主植物丰度进行采样，我们发现个体在落到不同寄主植物上的倾向存在差异。雌蝶倾向于至少在短期内专一取食一两种植物，而且整个种群的寡食性模式部分是由个体雌蝶寄主搜寻行为的变化所产生的。
