There are isolated populations of the endangered butterfly, Pyrgus sidae, on the Iberian Peninsula. The mark-release-recapture method was used to study the population parameters, the use of resources and the spatial distribution of a population in the centre of Spain. The estimated number of males and females within the population were similar and did not differ significantly from a ratio of 1 : 1. Total population size was estimated to be 569 ± 83 individuals. Potentilla recta is the principal adult nectar source and larval food plant, and its abundance is correlated with the number of marked and recaptured butterflies. The average total distance moved between capture and recapture was significantly greater for males than females, but the average daily distances moved were similar for both sexes. The spatial distribution of the movements of males and females was of a uniform type and lacked a predominant flight direction, which is typical of sedentary species. Continuing the traditional land use (cattle grazing or hay mowing) of the habitat of the species keeps the habitat open, which is necessary if the butterfly is to survive at this locality. These management practices favour P. recta, which would otherwise succumb to competition from invasive shrubs. Taking into account the habitat requirements of this species, it is important to conserve the mosaic of meadows already present in the area.
Small-scale soil disturbance, such as animal mounds created by subterraneous ecosystem engineers are important microhabitats for species of conservation concern. There are many studies on the effects of ecosystem engineers on plant species diversity and soil properties, but the influence of such organisms on other taxa, such as insects, are rarely analyzed. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time the role of molehills produced by the European Mole (Talpa europaea) (Linnaeus, 1758) as a larval habitat for a threatened butterfly species within central European calcareous grasslands. We selected the grizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae) (Linnaeus, 1758) as a study species as previous studies revealed that it prefers warm and open microhabitats for oviposition. Our study clearly showed that host plants occurring on or in the close vicinity of molehills were regularly occupied by immature stages of P. malvae. Occupied host plants at these disturbed sites were characterized by a more open vegetation structure with a higher proportion of bare ground or stones and a lower cover of the herb layer compared with available host plants (control samples). Among molehills those were preferred that had the highest cover of host plants, especially Agrimonia eupatoria. Molehills are important larval habitats for P. malvae in calcareous grasslands on deeper soils. At these sites succession occurs rapidly and the amount of bare ground is usually low, even when they are managed. In contrast to other known breeding sites in calcareous grasslands, molehills with a high cover of host plants provide ideal conditions for the successful larval development of P. malvae: (i) sufficient food during the larval period and (ii) warm microclimatic conditions., Merle Streitberger, Thomas Fartmann., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The oldest butterfly fossil known, which was formed about 55 Ma in what is now Denmark, is described. The fragments of its forewing venation indicates it belongs to the Hesperiidae. Further reconstruction indicates that it fits in the Coeliadinae and is close to the extant genera Hasora and Burara. It is here described as Protocoeliades kristenseni gen. et sp. n. It is the first butterfly fossil found on a continent (Europe) where its closest relatives do not currently occur. Its position on the phylogenetic tree of the Coeliadinae and its importance in understanding the time dimension in the evolution of butterflies, and their ecological and biogeographic implications are discussed., Rienk De Jong., and Obsahuje bibliografii
To explore the debated phylogenetic relationship of two Hesperiidae subfamilies, Pyrginae and Eudaminae, and contribute to the understanding of the evolution of mitogenomic architecture in butterflies, we sequenced the complete mitogenome of Tagiades vajuna. The mitogenome is a typical circular duplex molecule of 15,359 bp. Apart from the standard 22 tRNAs, it has a tandem duplication of trnS(AGN) and trnE, which is unique in lepidopteran insects. Comparison with Ctenoptilum vasava indicates that the trnS1 duplication is not an ancestral state shared with other species of Tagiadini. Independent origin of the trnS1 duplications was further confirmed by the reconstruction of the ancestral character state based on the topology of the phylogram. Furthermore, comparative analysis of mitogenomes with and without tRNA duplications indicates that tRNA duplication does not alter the codon usage pattern. The mitogenome has negative AT- and GC-skews, and it is highly A+T-biased (79.7%). The AT-rich (or control) region (283 bp) contains "ATAGA" and "ATTTA" motifs. Regarding the phylogenetic analysis, we found that removal of the third codon position (3CP) from datasets used for the mitochondrial phylogenomics of Hesperiidae is likely to produce results that are more consistent: Pyrginae were rendered paraphyletic by Eudaminae in both analyses of the dataset from which the 3CP was removed (13 PCGs + all RNAs), but inclusion of the 3CP resulted in a destabilized topology, resulting in both monophyly and polyphyly. We conclude that even shallow-phylogenies of insects should pay close attention to compositional and mutational biases in mitogenomes., Fang-Fang Liu, Yi-Ping Li, Ivan Jakovlić, Xiang-Qun Yuan., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Thermal requirements for flight in butterflies is determined by a combination of external factors, behaviour and physical constraints. Thorax temperature of 152 butterflies was monitored with an infra-red thermometer in controlled laboratory conditions. The temperature at take-off varied from 13.4°C, for a female Heteronympha merope to 46.3°C, for a female Junonia villida. Heteronympha merope, an understorey species, had the lowest recorded take-off temperatures, with females flying at a much lower thorax temperatures than males. Among the tested butterfly species, warming-up rate was positively correlated with take-off temperature and negatively with body mass. Wing loading is a major variable in determining the thorax flight temperature. Butterflies with the highest wing-loadings experienced the highest thorax temperatures at take-off. A notable exception to this rule is Trapezites symmomus, the only Hesperiidae of our data set, which had thorax flight temperatures of 31.5°C and 34.5°C, well within the range of the observed butterflies, despite a wing load ca. five times higher. The high thorax temperature recorded in J. villida is probably linked to its high flight speed. The results highlight the importance of physical constraints such as body size on the thermal requirements for flight across a range of butterfly species., Gabriel Nève, Casey Hall., and Obsahuje bibliografii