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Lonicera Implexa Leaves Bearing Naturally Laid Eggs of the Specialist Herbivore Euphydryas Aurinia have Dramatically Greater Concentrations of Iridoid Glycosides than other Leaves

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Abstract

We tested in the field the hypothesis that the specialist butterfly Euphydryas aurinia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Melitaeinae) lays eggs on leaves of Lonicera implexa (Caprifoliaceae) plants with greater iridoid concentrations. We conducted our investigations in a Mediterranean site by analyzing leaves with and without naturally laid egg clusters. There were no significant differences in iridoid glycoside concentrations between leaves from plants that did not receive eggs and the unused leaves from plants receiving eggs, a fact that would seem to indicate that E. aurinia butterflies do not choose plants for oviposition by their iridoid content. However, the leaves of L. implexa that bore egg clusters had dramatically greater (over 15-fold) concentrations of iridoid glycosides than the directly opposite leaves on the same plant. These huge foliar concentrations of iridoids (15% leaf dry weight) may provide specialist herbivores with compounds that they either sequester for their own defense or use as a means of avoiding competition for food from generalist herbivores. Nevertheless, it may still be possible that these high concentrations are detrimental to the herbivore, even if the herbivore is a specialist feeder on the plant.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partly supported by grants REN2003-04871 and CGL2004-01402/BOS from the Spanish Government, ISONET (Marie Curie network contract MC-RTN-CT-2003-504720) from the European Union, SGR2005-00312 from the Catalan government, and Fundación BBVA-2004. We would like to thank Sergi Herrando and David Requena for their help with the field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unitat d‘Ecofisiologia CSIC-CEAB-CREAF, CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals), Edifici C, CSIC-CREAF, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Josep Peñuelas, Jordi Sardans & Iolanda Filella

  2. Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, Museu de Granollers de Ciències Naturals, Francesc Macià, 51, E-08400, Granollers, Spain

    Constantí Stefanescu

  3. Servei de RMN, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Teodor Parella

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  1. Josep Peñuelas
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  2. Jordi Sardans
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Correspondence to Josep Peñuelas.

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Peñuelas, J., Sardans, J., Stefanescu, C. et al. Lonicera Implexa Leaves Bearing Naturally Laid Eggs of the Specialist Herbivore Euphydryas Aurinia have Dramatically Greater Concentrations of Iridoid Glycosides than other Leaves. J Chem Ecol 32, 1925–1933 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9118-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9118-8

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