Abstract
Butterflies of the genus Phengaris have a highly specialised life cycle involving an obligatory relationship with Myrmica ants. A knowledge of the host ant specificity is essential for understanding the relationship between a particular Phengaris species and its hosts and also important for the conservation of these butterflies. Data on host ant specificity were collected in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine. Five different Myrmica species were used by P. teleius as hosts (M. scabrinodis, M. rubra, M. ruginodis, M. rugulosa and M. gallienii) and at most localities it was not possible to distinguish a primary host - i.e. several Myr- mica species were parasitized to similar extents. Three populations of P. nausithous were found in Poland and Ukraine. In every case, M. rubra was its primary host, although in the Krakow region (Poland) two nests of M. scabrinodis and two of M. ruginodis were infested by this butterfly species. P. alcon in the four populations investigated in Poland and Ukraine invariably only used M. scabrinodis as a host despite the presence of other Myrmica species. These results obtained suggest lack of host specificity in P. teleius and high host specificity in P. nausithous, which mainly uses M. rubra as its host across Europe. Moreover, the three populations of P. alcon investigated seem to be highly specific and use M. scabrinodis as a host, which confirms the high local spe- cialisation of these populations.
Highlights
Most of the relationships between ants and lycaenid butterflies seem to be mutualistic (Pierce, 1987; Fiedler, 1991, 2001) but in some cases, larvae of certain butterfly species can exploit ant nests as a food resource and shelter and behave as well specialized social parasites (Cottrell, 1984; Maschwitz et al, 1984; Fiedler, 2001)
The data on host ant specificity of P. teleius, P. nausithous and P. alcon were collected in four Central European countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine
P. teleius was the most abundant species found in 292 nests belonging to five Myrmica species (Table 1, Appendix 1)
Summary
Most of the relationships between ants and lycaenid butterflies seem to be mutualistic (Pierce, 1987; Fiedler, 1991, 2001) but in some cases, larvae of certain butterfly species can exploit ant nests as a food resource and shelter and behave as well specialized social parasites (Cottrell, 1984; Maschwitz et al, 1984; Fiedler, 2001). Caterpillars of Phengaris teleius Bergsträsser, 1779 and P. arion Linnaeus, 1758 prey on ant brood and are called “predatory” species (Thomas et al, 1991; Thomas & Wardlaw, 1992), whereas those of P. alcon Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 and P. rebeli Hirschke, 1905 are termed “cuckoo” species, as they mimic ant larvae and are fed directly by workers (Elmes et al, 1991a, b). There is no precise information on the feeding behaviour of P. nausithous Bergsträsser, 1779 larvae inside Myrmica nests, but this species may have an intermediate strategy (Thomas & Settele, 2004). The cuckoo-feeding manner is more efficient and as up to 6–7 times more imagoes are produced per ant nest compared to the predatory species of Phengaris (Thomas & Wardlaw, 1992; Thomas et al, 1993)
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