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Sabotaging Behavior and Decision-Making in Larvae of the Queen Butterfly Danaus gilippus

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Abstract

Sabotaging behavior and decision-making during ontogeny in herbivorous insects remain largely underappreciated. Insects that use hosts bearing articulated laticifers would be expected to cut trenches to deactivate this plant defense. Contrary to this expectation, larvae of Danaus erippus display vein cutting when feeding on Asclepias curassavica, a host with articulated anastomosing laticifers; the frequency of sabotaging varies according to ontogeny. Scant records indicate that larvae of the congener Danaus gilippus perform both trenching and vein-cutting on milkweeds. In view of this incongruency, we examined the sabotaging behavior of D. gilippus on A. curassavica during larval ontogeny. Continuous observations of D. gilippus on A. curassavica revealed that the larvae always sabotaged leaves before feeding. Leaves were selected by larvae of D. gilippus for size but not age. Early instars cut trenches on large leaves, and the frequency of trenching decreased as the larvae grew. Vein cutting became predominant in late instars, and petiole cutting was observed in all last instars. Because sabotaging behavior was ubiquitous, artificial trenches and cuts were made on intact leaves to examine if leaf severance affects sabotaging frequency; sabotaging decreased significantly in artificially damaged leaves. Although sabotaging behavior has a strong innate component in D. gilippus, information regarding leaf dimension and severance is important in the decision-making processes for sabotaging to take place. As D. gilippus differs from D. erippus with respect to sabotaging type and frequency when feeding on the same host, other factors than plant anatomy probably play a role in mediating sabotaging behavior in this butterfly group.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Jorge Bizarro, Raquel Locke and Nicolas Locke for allowing us to collect insects at the Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA). José R. Trigo helped us with collecting insects and plants, and Marina Oliveira provided laboratory assistance. Carmen Odete Antinarelli and the staff of the Horto da Prefeitura Universitária, as well as Ricardo Monteiro, Margarete Macedo and members of the Laboratório de Ecologia de Insetos / UFRJ provided suitable space for rearing larvae and performing the experiments. Bruna Ramos exchanged some ideas on data presentation. David Dussourd, Diogo Loretto, José R. Trigo, Janet Read and three anonymous reviewers kindly read previous drafts of the manuscript. Above all, we are indebted to Vinicius Farjalla, as this study could not have been conducted without his help. PPSF received a senior student grant from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (PIBIC/UFRJ); DR acknowledges grants from the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa/CNPq (480.264/2010-4) and the Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro/FAPERJ (110.726/2013).

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  1. Laboratório de Interações Inseto-Planta, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Avenida Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, 21941-902, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Pedro P. S. Ferreira & Daniela Rodrigues

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  1. Pedro P. S. Ferreira
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  2. Daniela Rodrigues
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Correspondence to Daniela Rodrigues.

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Ferreira, P.P.S., Rodrigues, D. Sabotaging Behavior and Decision-Making in Larvae of the Queen Butterfly Danaus gilippus . J Insect Behav 28, 460–472 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-015-9514-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-015-9514-4

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