Abstract
Freshly hatched larvae represent critical but little studied phase in insect development. In butterflies inhabiting seasonally harsh environments, such as mountains of temperate regions, the larvae have only short time available for feeding before entering diapause. In the species rich genus Erebia, post-diapause larvae activate and feed exclusively in evening and late night hours, whereas the diurnal schedule and modifying effects of weather of pre-diapause larvae are practically unknown. Using captive observation with a transplant between alpine (2000 m) and mountain (800 m) altitudes, we studied larval activity of two species, alpine Erebia cassioides and lower-altitude E. aethiops, in Austrian Alps.Both species activated and fed both during day time and after the sunset, contrasting with the situation in post-diapause larvae. Both activity and feeding were strongly and species-specifically affected by temperature, cloudiness and humidity. Additionally, the loweraltitude E. aethiops, but not the alpine E. cassioides, restricted activity and feeding in the alpine altitude, indicating that some factors particular for alpine environments, possibly increased UV load or reduced air pressure, may limit the ability of this mountain species to develop above its vertical distribution limit.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Akaike H. 1974. New Look At Statistical Model Identification. IEEE T Automat Contr. 19: 716–723. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.1974.1100705
Ali A., Rashid M.A., Huang Q.Y. & Lei C.L. 2016. Effect of UV-A radiation as an environmental stress on the development, longevity, and reproduction of the oriental armyworm, Mythimna separata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Environ. Sci. Pollut. R 23: 17002–17007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6865-0
Cizek L., Fric Z. & Konvicka M. 2006. Host plant defences and voltinism in European butterflies. Ecol. Entomol. 31: 337–344. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.2006.00783.xn
Dinca V., Cuvelier S., Zakharov E.V., Hebert P.D.N. & Vila R. 2010. Biogeography, ecology and conservation of Erebia oeme (Hubner) in the Carpathians (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae). Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 46: 486–498. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00379271.2010.10697686.
Fartmann T. & Hermann G. 2006. Larval¨okologie von Tagfaltern und Widderchen in Mitteleuropa - von den Anfängen bis heute. Abhandlungen aus dem Westfälischen Museum für Naturkunde 68 (3/4): 11–57.
Gauld I.D. 1986. Latitudinal gradients in ichneumonid speciesrichness in Australia. Ecol. Entomol. 11 (2): 155–161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1986.tb00290.x
Guven E., Pandir D. & Bas H. 2015. UV radiation-induced oxidative stress and DNA damage on Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larvae. Turk. Entomol. Derg-Tu 39: 23–33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16970/ted.06717
Hodkinson I.D. 2005. Terrestrial insects along elevation gradients: species and community responses to altitude. Biol. Rev. 80 (3): 489–513. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1464793105006767
Kleckova I. & Klecka J. 2016. Facing the Heat: Thermoregulation and behaviour of lowland species of a cold-dwelling butterfly genus, Erebia. PLoS ONE 11: e0150393. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150393
Kleckova I., Konvicka M. & Klecka J. 2014. Thermoregulation and microhabitat use in mountain butterflies of the genus Erebia: Importance of fine-scale habitat heterogeneity. J. Therm. Biol. 41: 50–58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2014.02.002
Konvicka M., Beneš J., Cížek O., Kuras T. & Klecková I. 2016. Has the currently warming climate affected populations of the mountain ringlet butterfly, Erebia epiphron (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in low-elevation mountains? Eur. J. Entomol. 113: 295–301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2016.036
Kuras T., Beneš J. & Konvicka M. 2000. Differing habitat affinities of four Erebia species (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) in the Hruby Jesenik Mts, Czech Republic. Biologia 55 (2): 169–175.
Kuras T., Beneš J., Konvicka M. & Honc L. 2001. Life histories of Erebia sudetica sudetica and E. epiphron silesiana with description of immature stages (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) Atalanta 32 (1/2): 187–196.
Parmesan C., Root T.L. & Willig M.R. 2000. Impacts of extreme weather and climate on terrestrial biota. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 81 (3): 443–450. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2000)081<0443:IOEWAC>2.3.CO;2
Pena C., Witthauer H., Kleckova I., Fric Z. & Wahlberg N. 2015. Adaptive radiations in butterflies: evolutionary history of the genus Erebia (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 116: 449–467. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bij.12597
Polic D., Fiedler K., Nell C. & Grill A. 2014. Mobility of ringlet butterflies in high-elevation alpine grassland: effects of habitat barriers, resources and age. J. Insect Conserv. 18: 1153–1161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9726-5
R Development Core Tea. 2016. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. URL https://doi.org/www.R-project.org/.
Sato Y., Tanaka T., Imafuku M. & Hidaka T. 1983. How does diurnal Apanteles kariyai parasitize and egress from nocturnal host larva? Kontyu 51: 128–139.
Scalercio S., Bonacci T., Mazzei A., Pizzolotto R. & Brandmayr P. 2014. Better up, worse down: bidirectional consequences of three decades of climate change on a relict population of Erebia cassioides J. Insect Conserv. 18: 643–650. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9669-x
Schmitt T. & Haubrich K. 2008. The genetic structure of the mountain forest butterfly Erebia euryale unravels the late Pleistocene and postglacial history of the mountain coniferous forest biome in Europe Mol. Ecol. 17: 2194–2207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03687.x
Schmitt T., Hewitt G.M. & Muller P. 2006. Disjunct distributions during glacial and interglacial periods in mountain butterflies: Erebia epiphron as an example J. Evol. Biol. 19: 108–113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2005.00980.x
Schmitt T., Louy D., Zimmermann E. & Habel J.C. 2016. Species radiation in the Alps: multiple range shifts caused diversification in Ringlet butterflies in the European high mountains Org. Divers. Evol. 16: 791–808. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-016-0282-6
Slamova I., Klecka J. & Konvicka M. 2013. Woodland and grassland mosaic from a butterfly perspective: habitat use by Erebia aethiops (Lepidoptera: Satyridae) Insect Conserv. Divers. 6: 243–254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00212.x
Sonderegger P. 2005. Die Erebien der Schweiz (Lepidoptera: Satyrinae, Genus Erebia). Verlag Peter Sonderegger, Biel / Bienne, 712 pp..
Stuhldreher G. & Fartmann T. 2015. Oviposition-site preferences of a declining butterfly Erebia medusa (Lepidoptera: Satyrinae) in nutrient-poor grasslands. Eur. J. Entomol. 112: 493–499. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2015.067
Stuhldreher G., Hermann G. & Fartmann T. 2014. Cold-adapted species in a warming world -an explorative study on the impact of high winter temperatures on a continental butterfly. Entomol. Exp. Appl. 151: 270–279. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12193
Tennent W.J. 2008. A checklist of the satyrine genus Erebia (Lepidoptera) (1758-2006). Zootaxa 1900: 1–109.
Tolman T. & Lewington R. 1997. Butterflies of Britain and Europe. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., London, 320 pp. ISBN-10: 0007189915, ISBN-13: 9780007189915
Vrba P., Konvicka M. & Nedved O. 2012. Reverse altitudinal cline in cold hardiness among Erebia butterflies. Cryo-Lett. 33: 251–258. PMID: 22987236
Wipking W. & Mengelkoch C. 1994. Control of alternate-year flight activities in high-alpine Ringlet butterflies (Erebia, Satyridae) and Burnet moths (Zygaena, Zygaenidae) from temperate environments, pp. 313–347. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1888-2_15. In: Danks H.V. (ed.), Insect Life-Cycle Polymorphism: Theory, Evolution and Ecological Consequences for Seasonality and Diapause Control. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht, 365 pp. ISBN: 978-90-481-4401-3
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vrba, P., Zapletalová, L., Zapletal, M. et al. Pre-winter larval activity and feeding behavior of Erebia aethiops and E. cassioides in Austrian Alps. Biologia 72, 1334–1340 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0143
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0143