Interspecific and intersexual learning rate differences in four butterfly species

The Journal of Experimental Biology
Ikuo KandoriTomoyuki Yokoi

Abstract

Learning plays an important role in food acquisition for a wide range of insects and has been demonstrated to be essential during flower foraging in taxa such as bees, parasitoid wasps, butterflies and moths. However, little attention has been focused on differences in floral cue learning abilities among species and sexes. We examined the associative learning of flower colour with nectar in four butterfly species: Idea leuconoe, Argyreus hyperbius, Pieris rapae and Lycaena phlaeas. All butterflies that were trained learned the flower colours associated with food. The flower colour learning rates were significantly higher in I. leuconoe and A. hyperbius than in P. rapae and L. phlaeas. Among the four species examined, the larger and longer-lived species exhibited higher learning rates. Furthermore, female butterflies showed a significantly higher learning rate than males. This study provides the first evidence that learning abilities related to floral cues differ among butterfly species. The adaptive significance of superior learning abilities in the larger and longer-lived butterfly species and in females is discussed.

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Citations

Sep 4, 2014·Environmental Entomology·Jun Tsuji, Lauren Coe
Nov 26, 2013·Current Biology : CB·Patrício M V SimõesSwidbert R Ott
Nov 5, 2016·Annual Review of Entomology·Patricia L Jones, Anurag A Agrawal
Feb 9, 2017·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·Michiyo KinoshitaHisashi Ômura
Jan 3, 2018·Die Naturwissenschaften·G S BalamuraliNatalie Hempel de Ibarra
Feb 3, 2019·Nature Communications·Irja I Ratikainen, Hanna Kokko
May 18, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·G S BalamuraliUllasa Kodandaramaiah
Oct 4, 2020·Current Opinion in Insect Science·Michiyo Kinoshita, Finlay J Stewart
Nov 26, 2021·Insects·Hiromi NagayaMichiyo Kinoshita

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