Summary
Larvae of the ithomiine butterflyPlacidula euryanassa sequester tropane alkaloids (TAs) from the host plantBrugmansia suaveolens and pass them through the pupae to freshly emerged adults. Wild caught adults also show in their tissues, variable amounts of pyrrolidizine alkaloids (PAs), probably sequestered from variable plant sources and subject to dynamics of incorporation, accumulation and utilization of PAs by ithomiine butterflies. The ratio TAs/PAs is also variable between different populations.Miraleria cymothoe, another ithomiine that feeds onB. suaveolens as larvae, does not sequester TAs from the host-plant, but sequesters PAs from plant sources visited by the adult butterflies. The main alkaloid found in both butterflies is lycopsamine, which also is the principal PA found in all genera of Ithomiinae.
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Freitas, A.V.L., Trigo, J.R., Brown, K.S. et al. Tropane and pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the ithomiinesPlacidula euryanassa andMiraleria cymothoe (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Chemoecology 7, 61–67 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01239482
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01239482