石垣島産キチョウによるシロツメクサの利用

概要

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In Japan, subtropical populations of Eurema hecabe usually feed on subtropical legume plants such as Ormocarpum cochinchinense and Cassia surattensis, but not the clover Trifolium repens, which is well known as the host of a related species Colias erate. We recently discovered the use of T. repens by E. hecabe on Ishigakijima Island in the South-western Islands of Japan (Kato and Hirano, 2006). Here, we investigated oviposition response and larval performance between T. repens and C. suratensis in the laboratory, together with a brief field observation. The results show that female butterflies of E. hecabe oviposited on T. repens, although the ratio of oviposition on T. repens was lower than that on C. surattensis in the choice test. In the larval performance test, a smaller pupation ratio and pupal weight were observed among larvae feeding on T. repens than among those on C. surattensis. In E. mandarina, by contrast, oviposition scarcely occurred on clover although larval performance was relatively good. This data suggests that E. hecabe is less adaptive to T. repens than to native host plants, although this species uses T. repens more frequently as a host plant than E. mandarina does in the field.
2013-07-25