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Limitations Of Host Plant Use In Two Andean Altinote (Nymphalidae, Heliconiinea, Acraeini), Butterflies, From A Tritrophic Perspective, Karen M. Pedersen

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Despite the clear advantages of generalist feeding, many insect herbivores feed on a relatively small number of available host plants with in phylogenetically restricted groups. To better understand patterns of host plant use I used the sister species Altinote stratonice and Altinote dicaeus and their overlapping but distinct host plant range. I measured physiological effects of plants by using development time, pupal mass, and survival. To determine the importance of enemies I quantified rates of parasitism and rates of predation. Finally I measured host plant frequency, and host plant abundance. I found that survival of A. dicaeus and A. stratonice …