Population level correlation between pre-alighting and post-alighting host plant preference in the Glanville fritillary butterfly

1. In many populations of the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia, ovipositing females exhibit a post‐alighting preference for one of the potential host plant species available. The work reported here aimed to establish whether females with different post‐alighting preferences can discriminate between their host plant species prior to alighting, and whether pre‐alighting and post‐alighting preferences are correlated at the population level. 2. Alighting and oviposition events were recorded for groups of females from six populations in greenhouse and field experiments. 3. Landing frequencies did not change with experience, indicating that M. cinxia females did not learn from previous encounters with host plants. 4. Females from populations exhibiting post‐alighting preference searched efficiently for their host plants in the sense that they landed mainly on the species on which they oviposited predominantly. Pre‐alighting and post‐alighting preferences were correlated at the population level. 5. The correlation between pre‐alighting and post‐alighting preferences helps to explain why in nature, where the host plants often occur in distinct patches, females are more likely to colonise habitat patches in which their preferred host plant is abundant.