Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites

Flower-foraging Japanese yellow swallowtail butterflies, <i>Papilio</i> <i>xuthus</i>, exhibit sophisticated visual abilities. When ovipositing, females presumably attempt to select suitable leaves to support the growth of their larval offspring. We first established that but...

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Autores principales:	Hiromi Nagaya, Finlay J. Stewart, Michiyo Kinoshita
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	oviposition vision butterfly behavior leaf Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/389daf5d180748e3a377129084f216e3
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:389daf5d180748e3a377129084f216e32021-11-25T18:00:08ZSwallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites10.3390/insects121110472075-4450https://doaj.org/article/389daf5d180748e3a377129084f216e32021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/11/1047https://doaj.org/toc/2075-4450Flower-foraging Japanese yellow swallowtail butterflies, <i>Papilio</i> <i>xuthus</i>, exhibit sophisticated visual abilities. When ovipositing, females presumably attempt to select suitable leaves to support the growth of their larval offspring. We first established that butterflies indeed select particular leaves on which to lay eggs; when presented with a single <i>Citrus</i> tree, butterflies significantly favored two out of 102 leaves for oviposition. These preferences were observed across many individuals, implying that they were not merely idiosyncratic, but rather based on properties of the leaves in question. Because the butterflies descended towards the leaves rather directly from a distance, we hypothesized that they base their selection on visual cues. We measured five morphological properties (height, orientation, flatness, roundness, and size) and four reflective features (green reflectance, brightness, and degree and angle of linear polarization). We found that the number of eggs laid upon a leaf was positively correlated with its height, flatness, green reflectance, and brightness, and negatively correlated with its degree of polarization, indicating that these features may serve as cues for leaf selection. Considering that other studies report ovipositing butterflies’ preference for green color and horizontally polarized light, butterflies likely use multiple visual features to select egg-laying sites on the host plant.Hiromi NagayaFinlay J. StewartMichiyo KinoshitaMDPI AGarticleovipositionvisionbutterflybehaviorleafScienceQENInsects, Vol 12, Iss 1047, p 1047 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	oviposition vision butterfly behavior leaf Science Q
spellingShingle	oviposition vision butterfly behavior leaf Science Q Hiromi Nagaya Finlay J. Stewart Michiyo Kinoshita Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites
description	Flower-foraging Japanese yellow swallowtail butterflies, <i>Papilio</i> <i>xuthus</i>, exhibit sophisticated visual abilities. When ovipositing, females presumably attempt to select suitable leaves to support the growth of their larval offspring. We first established that butterflies indeed select particular leaves on which to lay eggs; when presented with a single <i>Citrus</i> tree, butterflies significantly favored two out of 102 leaves for oviposition. These preferences were observed across many individuals, implying that they were not merely idiosyncratic, but rather based on properties of the leaves in question. Because the butterflies descended towards the leaves rather directly from a distance, we hypothesized that they base their selection on visual cues. We measured five morphological properties (height, orientation, flatness, roundness, and size) and four reflective features (green reflectance, brightness, and degree and angle of linear polarization). We found that the number of eggs laid upon a leaf was positively correlated with its height, flatness, green reflectance, and brightness, and negatively correlated with its degree of polarization, indicating that these features may serve as cues for leaf selection. Considering that other studies report ovipositing butterflies’ preference for green color and horizontally polarized light, butterflies likely use multiple visual features to select egg-laying sites on the host plant.
format	article
author	Hiromi Nagaya Finlay J. Stewart Michiyo Kinoshita
author_facet	Hiromi Nagaya Finlay J. Stewart Michiyo Kinoshita
author_sort	Hiromi Nagaya
title	Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites
title_short	Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites
title_full	Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites
title_fullStr	Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites
title_full_unstemmed	Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites
title_sort	swallowtail butterflies use multiple visual cues to select oviposition sites
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/389daf5d180748e3a377129084f216e3
work_keys_str_mv	AT hirominagaya swallowtailbutterfliesusemultiplevisualcuestoselectovipositionsites AT finlayjstewart swallowtailbutterfliesusemultiplevisualcuestoselectovipositionsites AT michiyokinoshita swallowtailbutterfliesusemultiplevisualcuestoselectovipositionsites
_version_	1718411735728128000

Swallowtail Butterflies Use Multiple Visual Cues to Select Oviposition Sites

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