Oviposition Stimulants for Sulfur Butterfly, Colias erate poliographys: Cyanoglucosides as Synergistis Involved in Host Preference

Abstract

Host-plant chemicals stimulating oviposition by a Leguminosae-feeding pierid butterflyColias erate poliographyswere isolated and identified from one of its primary host plants, white clover (Trifolium repens). Females readily deposited eggs in response to methanolic extracts of the plant, and subsequent partition of the extracts with organic solvents revealed that chemical constituents critical for host recognition reside in the water-soluble fraction. Further fractionation of the hydrosoluble fraction by column chromatography led to the separation of an active fraction and two cyanoglucosides, linamarin and lotaustralin. Conspicuous oviposition response was evoked by unidentified polar compound(s), while these cyanoglucosides exerted no stimulatory activity by themselves. However, ovipositing females preferred samples containing either of the two cyanoglucosides. In dual-choice bioassays, significantly more eggs were laid on samples admixed with the cyanoglucosides, suggesting that the cyanoglucosides serve as synergistic oviposition stimulants and could play an important role in host selection.