pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Mechanical damage to pollen aids nutrient acquisition in Heliconius butterflies (Nymphalidae) - PubMed

  • ️Thu Jan 01 2009

Mechanical damage to pollen aids nutrient acquisition in Heliconius butterflies (Nymphalidae)

Harald W Krenn et al. Arthropod Plant Interact. 2009.

Abstract

Neotropical Heliconius and Laparus butterflies actively collect pollen onto the proboscis and extract nutrients from it. This study investigates the impact of the processing behaviour on the condition of the pollen grains. Pollen samples (n = 72) were collected from proboscides of various Heliconius species and Laparus doris in surrounding habitats of the Tropical Research Station La Gamba (Costa Rica). Examination using a light microscope revealed that pollen loads contained 74.88 ± 53.67% of damaged Psychotria pollen, 72.04 ± 23.4% of damaged Psiguria/Gurania pollen, and 21.35 ± 14.5% of damaged Lantana pollen (numbers represent median ± first quartile). Damaged pollen grains showed deformed contours, inhomogeneous and/or leaking contents, or they were empty. Experiments with Heliconius and Laparus doris from a natural population in Costa Rica demonstrated that 200 min of pollen processing behaviour significantly increased the percentage of damaged pollen of Psychotria compared to pollen from anthers (P = 0.015, Z = -2.44, Mann-Whitney U-test). Examination of pollen loads from green house reared Heliconius butterflies resulted in significantly greater amounts of damaged Psiguria pollen after 200 min of processing behaviour compared to pollen from flowers (P < 0.001, Z = -4.583, Mann-Whitney U-test). These results indicate that pollen processing functions as extra oral digestion whereby pollen grains are ruptured to make the content available for ingestion.

Keywords: Butterfly; Extra oral digestion; Heliconius; Lepidoptera; Pollen feeding.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1

a Heliconius pachinus with pollen load on coiled proboscis. b–d Intact pollen and damaged pollen (arrows) of the three most common plants in the examined pollen samples. b Pollen tetrads of Psiguria/Gurania (Cucurbitaceae). c Psychotria sp. (Rubiaceae). d Lantana camara (Verbenaceae)

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Beltrán M, Jiggins CD, Brower AVZ, Bermingham E, Mallet J. Do pollen feeding, pupal-mating and larval gregariousness have a single origin in Heliconius butterflies? Inferences from multilocus DNA sequence data. Biol J Linn Soc. 2007;92:221–239.
    1. Boggs CL. Selection pressures affecting male nutrient investment at mating in Heliconiine butterflies. Evolution. 1981;35:931–940. - PubMed
    1. Boggs CL. Ecology of nectar and pollen feeding in Lepidoptera. In: Slansky F, Rodriguez JG, editors. Nutritional ecology of insects, mites and spiders. John Wiley and Sons; New York: 1987. pp. 369–389.
    1. Boggs CL, Gilbert LE. Male contribution to egg production in butterflies: evidence for transfer of nutrients at mating. Science. 1979;206:83–84. - PubMed
    1. Boggs CL, Smiley JT, Gilbert LE. Patterns of pollen exploitation by Heliconius butterflies. Oecologia (Berlin) 1981;48:284–289. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources