Vibrational communication between a myrmecophilous butterfly Spindasis lohita (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) and its host ant Crematogaster rogenhoferi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Yueh Hsien Lin, Yi Chang Liao, Chin Cheng Scotty Yang, Johan Billen, Man Miao Yang, Yu Feng Hsu*

*此作品的通信作者

研究成果: 雜誌貢獻期刊論文同行評審

6 引文 斯高帕斯(Scopus)

摘要

Ants are a dominant insect group in terrestrial ecosystems and many myrmecophilous species evolve to associate with ants to gain benefits. One iconic example is myrmecophilous butterflies that often produce ant-mimicking vibrational calls to modulate ant behaviors. Despite its popularity, empirical exploration of how butterflies utilize vibrational signals to communicate with ants is scarce. In this study, we reported that the myrmecophilous butterfly Spindasis lohita produce three types of larval calls and one type of pupal call, while its tending ant, Crematogaster rogenhoferi emit a single type of call. The results of discriminant analysis revealed that calls of the two species are quantitatively similar in their signal attributes; the potential role of butterfly calls are further confirmed by the playback experiments in which certain ant behaviors including antennation, aggregation, and guarding were induced when one of the butterfly calls was played to C. rogenhoferi workers. The findings in the current study represent the very first evidence on vibrational communication between Spindasis and Crematogaster and also imply that S. lohita may have been benefited from ant attendance due to the ability to produce similar calls of the ant C. rogenhoferi.

原文英語
文章編號18548
期刊Scientific reports
9
發行號1
DOIs
出版狀態已發佈 - 2019 12月 1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • 多學科

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