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Paternal allocation of sequestered plant pyrrolizidine alkaloid to eggs in the danaine butterfly, Danaus gilippus

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Summary

Pyrrolizidine alkaloid sequestered by adult maleDanaus gilippus from plants is transferred in large measure to the female at mating, and by the female to the eggs. The eggs, presumably, are protected as a result. The male's courtship pheromone, danaidone, derived from the sequestered alkaloid, may function to advertise the male's alkaloid-donating capacity.

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Author notes

  1. D. E. Dussourd

    Present address: Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, 20742, College Park, Maryland, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Neurobiology and Behavior and Department of Chemistry, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, New York, USA

    D. E. Dussourd, C. A. Harvis, J. Meinwald & T. Eisner

Authors
  1. D. E. Dussourd
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  2. C. A. Harvis
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  3. J. Meinwald
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  4. T. Eisner
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Additional information

Deceased July, 1985. This paper is affectionately dedicated to his memory.

Acknowledgments. Paper Nr. 89 of the series Defense Mechanisms of Arthropods. Study supported by NIH (Grants AI-02908 and AI-12020; Predoctoral Traineeship to DED), Hatch funds (191-7416), the Bache Fund (National Academy of Sciences, to DED), and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund (American Museum of Natural History, to DED). We thank M. Weingarner and J. Miller forD. gilippus collection, J. Boggan for technical assistance, and the staff of the Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Florida, for assistance and hospitality. One of us (DED) is indebted to M. D. Achey, who by demonstrating nuptial cardenolide transfer in the monarch butterfly [Honors Thesis, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts (1979)] raised the possibility that other plant metabolites might be similarly transferred in danaines.

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Dussourd, D.E., Harvis, C.A., Meinwald, J. et al. Paternal allocation of sequestered plant pyrrolizidine alkaloid to eggs in the danaine butterfly, Danaus gilippus. Experientia 45, 896–898 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01954068

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01954068

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