Coevolutionary Race Continues: Butterfly Larval Adaptation to Plant Trichomes
- 17 January 1975
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 187 (4172) , 175-176
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.187.4172.175
Abstract
Plant trichomes can act as efjective defenses against herbivores, but at least one species of ithomiid butterfly, Mechanitis isthmia, has evolved a unique adaptation for avoiding the trichomes on its spiny Solanum hosts. The larvae are gregarious all together they spin a fine silk scaffolding over the tops of the spines on which they can crawl and feed in safety.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Role of Trichomes in Plant DefenseThe Quarterly Review of Biology, 1973
- Butterfly-Plant Coevolution: Has Passiflora adenopoda Won the Selectional Race with Heliconiine Butterflies?Science, 1971
- Allelochemics: Chemical Interactions between SpeciesScience, 1971
- Poisonous Plants of the United States and CanadaSoil Science, 1964