PARENT SESSION
Tuesday, August 8, 8:00-11:30 am
COS 30 - Invertebrate ecology
L-5, L-6, L-7, Lobby Level, Cook Convention Center
Presiders: C Johnson
Host preference and performance driven by host plant quality and not induction in a swallowtail butterfly.
Heinz, Cheryl*,1, 1 Benedictine University, Lisle, IL
ABSTRACT- Papilio polyxenes asterius caterpillars were tested for early-instar (innate) preferences, late-instar preferences, and late-instar performance on various Apiaceous host plants with and without switching the host at the beginning of the fourth or fifth instar. Results were consistent with the caterpillars choosing a host based on plant quality, and were not consistent with an induction of preference. There were no apparent costs to switching host plants.
Key words: Herbivory, Lepidoptera: Papilionidae, Preference/Performance studies