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At 4:21 PM -0300 9/22/14, Jim Wolford wrote:
>I have also read that the supposedly tasty viceroy has degrees of
>toxicity, as we read in the 1991 paper cited by Phil. I have been
>teaching for a long time that very bright colors in nature should be
>suspected of advertising some form of distastefulness or worse, but
>obviously it ain't necessarily so!
>
>Can anyone out there provide any details on this for the viceroy &
>monarch example?
Viceroy caterpillars feed on willows and poplars. I'm not familiar
with the chemistry of Poplars but Willows, of course, contain
salicylic acids and these compounds are sequestered by the
caterpillars. It's very likely (almost certain) that there is
variation in the availability and concentration of these compounds
amongst populations and across species of Willows. Coupled with
likely variation in the ability of individual Viceroys to sequester
them, there is little reason not to expect the same kind of variation
in palatability shown by Monarchs/Queens on various species of
Milkweeds.
To really get into this, I suggest looking for the Journal of
Chemical Ecology paper (07/2007; 33(6):1149-59 ) by Kathleen Prudic,
et al. She and her co-authors cover this subject very well. The paper
can be downloaded via ResearchGate.net
Phil
--
Phil Schappert, PhD
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"Just let imagination lead, reality will follow through..."
(Michael Hedges)
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