This butterfly picks the wrong host plant on purpose
Larsson Åberg V, Boman J, Backström N, Lind MI
Pollinators
If you've ever wondered why a butterfly ignores the lush, perfect host plant in your garden and lays eggs on the scraggly common one nearby, this study suggests she may be betting on availability over quality.
Scientists watched a small butterfly called the northern brown argus choose between two related wildflowers, wood cranesbill and bloody cranesbill, to lay her eggs on. She strongly preferred the more common wood cranesbill, even though caterpillars that ate bloody cranesbill actually grew a bit bigger. The finding suggests butterflies sometimes pick host plants based on how easy they are to find, not just how nutritious they are for their offspring.
Key Findings
Female Aricia artaxerxes butterflies preferred ovipositing on wood cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum) over bloody cranesbill (G. sanguineum)
Larvae fed on wood cranesbill grew slightly smaller than those fed on bloody cranesbill, contradicting the preference-performance hypothesis
Wood cranesbill is more abundant across the Uppland, Sweden study region, suggesting plant availability influences oviposition choice more than offspring growth outcomes
chevron_right Technical Summary
A butterfly in Sweden lays her eggs on the plant that's more common in the landscape, even though her caterpillars actually grow better on a rarer relative. This challenges the standard assumption that insects always choose the best food for their young.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
No Preference for Performance: Host Plant Preference, Offspring Performance and Host Plant Distribution in the Butterfly Aricia artaxerxes.
The connection between female host plant preference and offspring performance is important for understanding how relationships between plants and phytophagous insects have evolved. According to the...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
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Geranium sylvaticum, the wood cranesbill or woodland geranium, is a species of hardy flowering plant in the family Geraniaceae, native to Europe and northern Turkey.