Patterns of oviposition by Sandia xami (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) in relation to food plant apparency

ABSTRACT.

• 1 The butterfly Sandia xami (Reakirt) has a very clumped yearly pattern of oviposition on its food plant Echeveria gibbiflora D.C., and the mean number of eggs per plant is always very low.
• 2 Three features of host plants are highly associated with the probability of being oviposited upon: height of plant; degree of conspicuousness; and degree of isolation from conspecific plants.
• 3 The relative importance of these factors as predictors of the probability of oviposition change according to the time scale considered: height and conspicuousness are more important over short (weekly) time intervals whilst isolation takes precedence over longer (yearly) periods.
• 4 It is hypothesized that the clumped pattern of oviposition is responsible for the low numbers of the butterflies relative to their very abundant food plant.