Abstract
This study focuses on a non-social species of butterfly of the Neotropical genus Heliconius, H. erato phyllis, where caterpillar-egg cannibalism may occur. In this species, newly hatched caterpillars are able to recognize sibling eggs, preferentially cannibalizing unrelated when there is a choice. The purpose of this study was to verify whether the information to recognize the egg as sibling or non-kin is in the chorion (maternal origin) and/or in the embryo/young caterpillar, by performing both caterpillar-egg and caterpillar-caterpillar cannibalism tests. The results of these tests suggest that the signal evaluated to recognize kinship is in the egg chorion, not in the caterpillar itself. We discuss these findings in the light of possible nutritional gain and the opportunity of encounters of immatures in a non-social butterfly.
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