PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 16: Invasive Species.
Wednesday, August 6 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.
Ants reduce oviposition success of gulf fritillaries on Passiflora incarnata.
Zettler, Jennifer *,1, Robinson, Bradford2, Allen, Craig3, Spira, Timothy4, 1 Department of Biology, Savannah, GA, USA2 Department of Biology Instruction, Clemson, SC, USA3 U.S. Geological Survey, Clemson, SC, USA4 Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson, SC, USA
ABSTRACT- Extrafloral nectaries on maypops, Passiflora incarnata, attract many ant species including the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, and the native ant, Crematogaster lineolata. Ants attracted to these nectaries are known to encounter and remove herbivores. In a greenhouse located in Clemson, South Carolina, we compared the effects of S. invicta and C. lineolata on oviposition success and larval development in gulf fritillaries, Agraulis vanillae, on their chief food plant, P. incarnata. We placed individual potted plants in containers with colonies of S. invicta or C. lineolata. Plants placed in empty containers served as controls. Fifty A. vanillae pupae from a commercial breeder were allowed to emerge inside the greenhouse where we observed ant-butterfly behaviors. We found that the presence of either ant species significantly (P= 0.004) reduced the number of eggs deposited on P. incarnata. Although not statistically significant, fewer eggs were deposited on plants tended by S. invicta than C. lineolata. Twenty days post-oviposition, 51% of 67 eggs in the control group, 0% of 30 eggs in the C. lineolata group, and 0% of 1 egg in the S. invicta group developed into larvae. Therefore, ant presence also reduced caterpillar survival. Because S. invicta populations are most likely to occur in fallow fields and roadsides where P. incarnata abounds, this ant species may be especially deleterious to gulf fritillary populations.
Key words: Solenopsis, extrafloral nectaries, Passiflora, oviposition