caa a22 4500 469097604 CHVBK 20180323133035.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e19920901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF00317634 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF00317634 Specificity of an ant-lycaenid interaction [Elektronische Daten] [D. Jordano, C. Thomas] Summary: Many lycaenid butterflies are believed to be mutualists of ants — the butterfly larvae secrete sugars and amino acids as rewards for the ants, and the ants protect the larvae from predation or parasitism. We examined the specificity of the relationship between the lycaenid Plebejus argus and ants in the genus Lasius. Eggs were not attractive to Lasius ants until the emerging larvae had broken through the chorion. First instar larvae were palpated and picked up by Lasius workers and taken to the nest. First instars were mostly ignored by Myrmica sabuleti ants and they were rarely detected by Formica fusca. Older larvae were more attractive to Lasius than to the other ant genera. Pupae were very attractive to Lasius, moderately so to Myrmica, and were ignored by Formica fusca. Teneral adults were palpated by Lasius, but were attacked by Myrmica and Formica workers. We conclude that P. argus is a specialist associate of Lasius ants. Two populations of Plebejus argus were compared: one is naturally associated with Lasius niger, and the other with Lasius alienus. In reciprocal trials, larvae were slightly more attractive to their natural host ant species. Since test larvae were reared on a single host plant species in captivity, this differentiation probably has a genetic basis. Springer-Verlag, 1992 Behaviour nationallicence Butterfly nationallicence Lasius nationallicence Mutualism nationallicence Plebejus argus nationallicence Jordano D. NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berks, UK aut Thomas C. NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berks, UK aut Oecologia Springer-Verlag 91/3(1992-09-01), 431-438 0029-8549 91:3<431 1992 91 442 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317634 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317634 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Jordano D. NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berks, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Thomas C. NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berks, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Oecologia Springer-Verlag 91/3(1992-09-01), 431-438 0029-8549 91:3<431 1992 91 442 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer