Dataset Information

Uncertainty about flying conspecifics causes territorial contests of the Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon.

ABSTRACT: Background:Male-male aerial contests of territorial butterflies are difficult to explain by major contest models based on game theory because of butterflies' apparent inability to inflict substantial costs on their opponent. As an alternative, the "erroneous courtship hypothesis" was presented. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that territorial butterflies cannot discriminate the sex of flying conspecifics. The hypothesis regards the aerial contest of male butterflies as an inevitable same-sex entanglement in the butterflies' behavioral sequence. To test the robustness of the hypothesis, we investigated the sex recognition abilities of the Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon. Results:We presented four types of flapping butterfly specimens (fresh male and female, chemicals-removed male and female) to territorial males. The males touched fresh female specimens and showed typical courtship flight. For the other types of specimens, they rarely showed courtship flight although they approached or touched them. In addition, territorial males reacted longer to fresh males than to fresh females. Conclusions:The results indicated that although territorial males recognize flying females as sexual partners by sensing their semiochemicals, they cannot identify flying conspecific males, and continue to gather information on them. P. machaon is one of the species whose behavior is most incompatible with the erroneous courtship hypothesis, as its males perform a typical courtship flight to flying females, suggesting the ability of sexing flying conspecifics. Nevertheless, the erroneous courtship hypothesis was not disproved by our results.

SUBMITTER: Takeuchi T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6591982 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Uncertainty about flying conspecifics causes territorial contests of the Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon.

Takeuchi Tsuyoshi T Yabuta Shinji S Takasaki Hiroyuki H

Frontiers in zoology 20190624

<h4>Background</h4>Male-male aerial contests of territorial butterflies are difficult to explain by major contest models based on game theory because of butterflies' apparent inability to inflict substantial costs on their opponent. As an alternative, the "erroneous courtship hypothesis" was presented. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that territorial butterflies cannot discriminate the sex of flying conspecifics. The hypothesis regards the aerial contest of male butterflies as an inev ...[more]

PMID: 31285749

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Project description:BackgroundThe frass of several herbivorous insect species has been utilised as natural medicines in Asia; however, the metabolite makeup and pharmaceutical activities of insect frass have yet to be investigated. Oligophagous Papilionidae insects utilise specific kinds of plants, and it has been suggested that the biochemicals from the plants may be metabolised by cytochrome P450 (CYP) in Papilionidae insects. In this study, we extracted the components of the frass of Papilio machaon larvae reared on Angelica keiskei, Oenanthe javanica or Foeniculum vulgare and examined the biological activity of each component. Then, we explored the expression of CYP genes in the midgut of P. machaon larvae and predicted the characteristics of their metabolic system.ResultsThe components that were extracted using hexane, chloroform or methanol were biochemically different between larval frass and the host plants on which the larvae had fed. Furthermore, a fraction obtained from the chloroform extract from frass of A. keiskei-fed larvae specifically inhibited the cell proliferation of the human colon cancer cell line HCT116, whereas fractions obtained from the chloroform extracts of O. javanica- or F. vulgare-fed larval frass did not affect HCT116 cell viability. The metabolites from the chloroform extract from frass of A. keiskei-fed larvae prevented cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in HCT116 cells. Next, we explored the metabolic enzyme candidates in A. keiskei-fed larvae by RNA-seq analysis. We found that the A. keiskei-fed larval midgut might have different characteristics from the O. javanica- or F. vulgare-fed larval metabolic systems, and we found that the CYP6B2 transcript was highly expressed in the A. keiskei-fed larval midgut.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that P. machaon metabolites might be useful as pharmaceutical agents against human colon cancer subtypes. Importantly, our findings show that it might be possible to use insect metabolic enzymes for the chemical structural conversion of plant-derived compounds with complex structures.

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Uncertainty about flying conspecifics causes territorial contests of the Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon.

Publications

Uncertainty about flying conspecifics causes territorial contests of the Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon.

Similar Datasets

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