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Classic Themes: Ants and Other Insects – Lepidoptera

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Mutualisms and Insect Conservation

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Abstract

Perhaps the most intensively studied and informative suite of interactions involving insect mutualisms is the enormous variety of associations between ants and the larvae of lycaenid butterflies. Lycaenidae are by far the predominant group of myrmecophilous Lepidoptera, but mutualistic associations have developed also in several groups of moths (Hinton 1951). The parallels between the tripartite interactions of ‘ant-hemipteran-plant’ and ‘ant-lepidopteran-plant’ both reflect ecological complexities ranging from near independence to obligate mutualisms, with a continuum of relationships categorised broadly as ‘myrmecophily’ bridging these extremes. Associations between ants and lycaenid butterflies have been represented as ‘an ideal system for research on mutualisms’ (Pierce et al. 1991), because of the extensive collective range of associations and levels of intimacy and intricacies they display.

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  1. Department of Ecology, Environment & Evolution, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Tim R. New

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New, T.R. (2017). Classic Themes: Ants and Other Insects – Lepidoptera. In: Mutualisms and Insect Conservation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58292-4_6

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