Specializations and polyphagy of Plebejus argus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in North Wales

Abstract. 1. The polyphagous butterfly, Plebejus argus L., was found to have specialized requirements: eggs are laid along vegetation/bare ground margins, larvae specialize on tender meristematic and reproductive growth, larvae and pupae are tended by Lasius ants, and warm microclimates are favoured.
2. These requirements are met in early successional habitats within several bio topes. These habitats are locally distributed, as is P. argus.
3. Populations on limestone, heathland and mossland biotopes did not differ greatly in ecologies. Given a choice of foodplants in captivity, larvae from heathland and limestone did show slight differences in preference, selecting some of the hostplants they normally encounter in the wild. Regardless of biotope, all these larvae were plant taxa generalists (on three plant families), but specialists on plant parts.
4. The decline of P. argus in Britain is attributed to loss of biotopes and to declining traditional management of them. Fewer habitats are available, and the distances between them are greater than formerly. As some of these habitats are short lived, and P. argus rarely flies far, the butterfly's decline is a compound effect of reduced areas of habitat and inability to colonize them.     

Isolation and characterization of microsatellites in two tropical butterflies,Drupadia theda and Arhopala epimuta (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Little is known about the effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation‐induced fires on the genetic diversity of tropical rainforest species. Here, I report on the isolation and characterization of 10 microsatellite loci, five loci each, for two lycaenid butterfly species in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, namely Drupadia theda and Arhopala epimuta, which will be used to specifically study the impact of disturbance on genetic diversity. Microsatellite enrichment was carried out using streptavidin‐coated magnetic beads. Positive colonies were identified with the three‐primer polymerase chain reaction (PIMA). Cross‐species amplifications conducted both within and between genera were successful in 16 out of 20 tests.     

Global warming will affect the genetic diversity and uniqueness of Lycaena helle populations

The climate warming of the postglacial has strongly reduced the distribution of cold‐adapted species over most of Central Europe. Such taxa have therefore become extinct over most of the lowlands and shifted to higher altitudes where they have survived to the present day. The lycaenid butterfly Lycaena helle follows this pattern of former widespread distribution and later restriction to mountain areas such as the European middle mountains. We sampled 203 individuals from 10 populations representing six mountain ranges (Pyrenees, Jura, Massif Central, Morvan, Vosges and Ardennes) over the species' western distribution. Allozyme and microsatellite polymorphisms were analysed to study the genetic status of these highly fragmented populations. Both molecular marker systems revealed a strong genetic differentiation among the analysed populations, coinciding with the orographic structure and highly restricted gene flow among them. The large‐scale genetic differentiation is more pronounced in allozymes (F_CT: 0.326) than in microsatellites (R_CT: 0.113), but microsatellites show a higher resolution on the regional scale (R_SC: 0.082) compared with allozymes (F_SC: n.s.). For both analytical tools, we found private alleles occurring exclusively in a single mountain area. The highly fragmented and isolated occurrence of populations is supported by the distribution pattern of potentially suitable climate suggested by species distribution models. Model projections under two climate warming scenarios predict a decline of climatically suitable areas, which will result in the extinction of most of the populations showing unique genetic characteristics.     

Temporal and geographic variation in parasitoid attack with no evidence for ant protection of the Melissa blue butterfly,Lycaeides melissa

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Lack of evidence for reproductive isolation among ecologically specialised lycaenid butterflies

Abstract 1. The evolution of reproductive isolation between recently diverged or incipient species is a critical component of speciation and a major focus of speciation models. In phytophagous insects, host plant fidelity (the habit of mating and ovipositing on a single host species) can contribute to assortative mating and reproductive isolation between populations adapting to alternative hosts. The potential role of host plant fidelity in the evolution of reproductive isolation was examined in a pair of North American blue butterfly species, Lycaeides idas and L. melissa .
2. These species are morphologically distinct and populations of each species utilise different host plants; however they share 410 bp haplotypes of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene, indicating recent divergence.
3. Some populations using native hosts exhibited strong fidelity for their natal host plant over the hosts used by nearby populations. Because these butterflies mate on or near the host plant, the development of strong host fidelity may create reproductive isolation among populations on different hosts and restrict gene flow.
4. Tests of population differentiation using allozyme allele frequency data did not provide convincing evidence of restricted gene flow among populations. Based on morphological differences, observed ecological specialisation, and the sharing of genetic markers, these butterflies appear to be undergoing adaptive radiation driven at least partially by host shifts. Neutral genetic markers may fail to detect the effects of very recent host shifts in these populations due to gene flow and/or the recency of divergence and shared ancestral polymorphism.     

Of crazy-ants and Curetinae: are Curetis butterflies tended by ants?

The larvae of the lycaenid subfamily Curetinae have never been reported to be associated with ants. Observations on Curetis regula Evans from Brunei are presented which show that this species may be tended by ants both as larvae and adults. The observations are discussed in relation to a recent review on lycaenid/ant associations, u is suggested that the Curetinae will be found to be associated with ants when more species have been reared, on evidence of the larval tentacle organs and apparent ‘pore cupolas’, both of which are ant adaptations. More studies are needed on Curetis biology and larval morphology to resolve the relationships of this enigmatic genus within the Lycaenidae.     

中国灰蝶科一新属一新种：鳞翅目：灰蝶科

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Analysis of museum specimens suggests extreme genetic drift in the adonis blue butterfly (Polyommatus bellargus)

We amplified microsatellite DNA from museum specimens over 100 years old of the adonis blue butterfly, Polyommatus bellargus. These results were compared with butterfly samples taken from the same site near Folkestone in southern UK in 1998/9, 200 generations later, and with samples from other extant UK populations. Dramatic changes in allele frequencies have occurred over time, which is indicative of substantial genetic drift or extinction/recolonization. Patterns of heterozygosity in the 1998/9 sample are indicative of a past bottleneck, and one was known to have occurred in the late 1970s in this and many other UK populations. One allele present at high frequency in 1896 was not detected in any extant UK population, suggesting that it may have been lost from the UK (a 'ghost' allele), although the allele may well persist elsewhere within the range of the species. Although the present study is relatively small in scale (20 museum specimens from one site), it serves to reinforce the enormous potential of museum specimens in well represented taxa such as butterflies for examining the effects of demographic events spanning many years.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 88 , 447–452.     

Parasitism and ant protection alter the survival of the lycaenid Hemiargus isola

Abstract. 1. Although the majority of lycaenid–ant associations is facultative, few studies have documented the protection benefits provided by ants to lycaenids that are tended facultatively (Pierce & Easteal, 1986; Peterson, 1993).
2. Larvae of Hemiargus isola (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) feeding on Dalea albiflora are tended facultatively by several species of ant. In 1999 and 2000, the levels of parasitism and the identities of attendant ants were determined for larvae of H. isola . In addition, the presence of ants was manipulated experimentally to determine the efficacy of protection provided by attendant ants to H. isola .
3. Lycaenids were parasitised by a braconid wasp, Cotesia cyaniridis (Riley), and a tachinid fly, Aplomya theclarum (Scudder). In 1999 and 2000, 62 and 65% of larvae were parasitised; the percentage of the population parasitised did not differ significantly between years. In both 1999 and 2000, parasitism by the braconid wasp C. cyaniridis accounted for > 99% of all parasitism events.
4. Four species of ant, Crematogaster sp., Dorymyrmex sp., Forelius sp., and Formica sp., were associated with 88–99% of the tended lycaenids collected in both 1999 and 2000. For both years, there was a single, numerically dominant species associated with >80% of the tended larvae collected, but the identity of this numerically dominant ant differed between years.
5. Experimental exclusion of ants from D. albiflora plants resulted in 78% larval mortality as a result of parasitism, nearly twice that of larvae that were tended by ants on unmanipulated plants.     

LONG-DISTANCE GENE FLOW IN THE SEDENTARY BUTTERFLY,EUPHILOTES ENOPTES (LEPIDOPTERA: LYCAENIDAE)

The relationship between gene flow and geographic proximity has been assessed for many insect species, but dispersal distances are poorly known for most of these. Thus, we are able to assess the concordance between vagility and gene flow for only a few species. In this study, I documented variation at six allozyme loci among Washington and Oregon populations of the sedentary, patchily distributed, lycaenid butterfly, Euphilotes enoptes (Boisduval) to assess whether the relationship between gene flow and geographic distance is consistent with the dispersal biology of this species. Both a phenogram based on genetic distances between populations and a regression analysis of gene flow estimates on geographic distances showed a pattern consistent with genetic isolation by distance. Many estimates of gene flow among pairs of populations separated by more than 100 km exceeded the equivalent of 10 individuals exchanged per generation, a value much greater than would be predicted from the limited dispersal ability of this species. However, based on the allozyme data, genetic neighborhood size was estimated to be approximately 39 individuals, a value that is consistent with poor vagility. The results of this study speak to the power of stepping-stone gene flow among populations and are compared to the results of other studies that have examined the relationship between dispersal and gene flow in sedentary insects.