More than one host plant needed when raising caterpillars

16 years ago

I was reading an entomology textbook the other day and I read something that surprised me, they cited an experiment that showed Queen butterflies need two different types of host plant (majority one type, and a small amount of the other) in the caterpillar stage or the butterfly will be sterile. I had no idea it could be so tricky to raise butterflies for their benefit! I only raised BST once, (never even seen a Queen) and they got 3 different plants, so hopefully I did them right.

I don't have the book with me now, but if anyone is interested in further info, let me know and I'll post references from the book and the details about which plants were mentioned. I didn't know if everyone already knew this, but I did not, so I thought I'd share it.

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Comments (7)

MissSherry
16 years ago
I've never heard of such a thing!! I've raised jillions of caterpillars on just one host plant, and it appears they all mated and procreated.
What was the name of the entomology book?
MissSherry
dragonplant
Original Author
16 years ago
Oh good, it must not be too common a problem then possibly. I just let my BSTs go and never saw them again, so I wouldn't have a clue if they made more butterflies or not.
Reading this I see it doesn't mention the plants, I thought it did, sorry about that guys. I will keep looking for the names of the 2 plants mentioned, I can still check this article cited, but I can't do it from this computer, will have to look into it tomorrow:

The structure and development of the hairpencil glands in males of the queen butterfly, Danaus gilippus berenice
Thomas E. Pliske, Miriam M. Salpeter.1971. Journal of Morphology. Volume 134, Issue 2 , Pages 215 - 241.
I realize the names don't match, I will have to look into that too.

The book is:
Insect Biology, a textbook of entomology by Howard E. Evans, 1984 by Addison-Wesley publishing company.

The paragraph I mentioned is on page 123 and says generally (I don't know if I'm allowed to quote it or not with copyrights)... Jerrold Meinwald and his team at Cornell identified 2 chemicals in the secretion of the hair pencils of the male Queen butterfly (which are hairlike processes the male wiggles over the female's head and antennae during courtship). The 2 chemicals Meinwald's team found are released during this wiggling and contain a ketone and a diol. During this, the mixture is brushed onto the antennae of the female. This chemical mix on the antennae causes the female to land and fold her wings, which would allow the male to mate with her. Pliske and Eisner found that males raised in cages on cuttings of the major food plant failed to mate successfully, but that males raised outside mostly on that same food plant intact, mated successfully. They then showed that males from cages had the diol but not the ketone, and the outdoor males had both. They found the outdoor males got the chemical precursor which allowed them to make the ketone came from another host plant upon which they spent very little time and only ate a little. They found further that the aphrodisiac was the ketone, and the diol only helped the chemical stick to the female's antennae.
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MissSherry
16 years ago
It makes no sense that butterflies in general would need more than one type of host plant. Spicebush swallowtails spend their entire lives on sassafras, regardless of whether I bring them in or not, same thing with redbay and palamedes, a. tomentosa and most of my PVS cats, etc., etc., and when I need to switch host plants, it's very difficult - they want to stick with the type plant they were laid on as eggs.
MissSherry
dragonplant
Original Author
16 years ago
Yeah, it could be that its only the case for the Queens. My BSTs were a little reluctant to eat a new plant too, but they did within a day.
dragonplant
Original Author
16 years ago
This has been a difficult search, I have been unable to find those old articles cited. If anyone else finds what they say, maybe they can post. I did find one slightly later research article (from 1973, pdf article linked below) found that it was not the host plants and the larva, but something not available to the laboratory reared butterflies. (which would imply that as long as you free your butterflies everything should be fine with raising them inside). It is from Australia, so I'm not even sure if the plants they tested are ones that would be native here. But it reports male Danaus (Queens, Monarchs etc.) adult butterflies being strongly attracted to (and feeding on sometimes), dead and withering plants, and compounds in these being responsible for successful mating.
All were plants that belong to the family Boraginaceae.

If anyone has any later research on the topic, do share. We ought to have the whole story by now!

Here is a link that might be useful: article
jmcat
16 years ago
Could it be something with puddling possibly? I've heard that it is necessary for mating.
-Jmcat
linda_centralokzn6
16 years ago
I have raised lots of Queens this summer and released them, males and females, and have not noticed any problems with mating. They have all been raised on trop. mw.

More than one host plant needed when raising caterpillars

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MissSherry

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More than one host plant needed when raising caterpillars

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MissSherry

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