2007 Volume 58 Issue 4 Pages 413-420
A female of a myrmecophilous butterfly, Niphanda fusca (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), was observed in July 2004 to lay eggs on leaf-roll galls induced by Myzus siegesbeckiae (Hemiptera, Aphididae) on lammas shoots of a cherry tree in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Presence of the host ant, Camponotus japonicus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), was not necessary for the N. fusca female to lay eggs. Many lammas shoots were produced from one of the cherry trees surveyed, due to heavy trimming in June 2004, and every lammas shoot was galled by M. siegesbeckiae colonies. The N. fusca female did not lay eggs on cherry trees with fewer lammas shoots. On the basis of previous and our current observations, we note that N. fusca is one of the late season emergent butterflies that inevitably use lammas shoots as oviposition targets instead of spring shoots. Lammas shoots are unpredictable targets in time, space, and quantity, because they are produced as a compensatory reaction to natural or artificial defoliation. We therefore discuss the importance of management practices in promoting lammas shoot production that may help to prevent the decline of N. fusca populations that has occurred in recent years. We also emphasize the necessity to study interactions between insects that affect the abundance of N. fusca.
