Host plant odor extracts with strong effects on oviposition behavior in Papilio polyxenes

Abstract

AbstractOvipositing females of the black swallowtail butterfly, Papilio polyxenes Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae: Papilioninae), have an innate response to contact chemical cues, but it was not known how naïve females would respond to volatile host plant chemicals. Naïve and experienced females were tested in a free‐flight experiment using model plants and volatile extracts from two hosts, carrot [Daucus carota L. (Apiaceae)] and poison hemlock [Conium maculatum L. (Apiaceae)], and one non‐host, fava bean [Vicia faba L. (Fabaceae)]. Naïve females responded to both host plant extracts with more approaches and landings than to non‐host extracts, with poison hemlock receiving more responses than carrot. Females experienced with one of the two host plants also approached and landed frequently on extracts of host plants, but poison hemlock again received more approaches and landings, regardless of a female's host plant experience. Female P. polyxenes thus respond specifically to volatile extracts of their host plants, even in the absence of both relevant contact chemical cues and adult host plant experience.