Sunday, September 2, 2007

Mud-puddling

Mud-puddling

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Mud-puddling is the phenomenon mostly seen in butterflies and involves their aggregation on wet soil, dung and carrion to obtain nutrients such as sodium and amino acids.[1] This behaviour has also been seen in some other insects, notably the leafhoppers.[2] Sweat on human skin may also be attractive to butterflies due to the sodium in it.[3]

This behaviour is restricted to males in many species and in some species the presence of butterflies on the ground acts as a stimulus for their aggregation.[4][5]

In tropical India this phenomenon is mostly seen in the post-monsoon season. The groups can include several species including members of the Papilionidae and Pieridae.[6]

Males seem to benefit from the mud-puddling behaviour with an increase in reproductive success.[7] The collected sodium and amino acids are often transferred to the female with the spermatophore during mating as a nuptial gift. This nutrition enhances the survival rate of the eggs.[8] [9] Some species, especially those that are attracted to dung seem to be prefer ammonium ions rather than sodium as in most Pieridae.[10]

Some moths, notably of the tribe Calpini are noted for their tear-drinking habit. The moth Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica of Madagascar has been noted to visit and suck tears by inserting their proboscis into the closed eyelids of roosting birds.[11] This habit of Ophthalmotropy (=eye-attraction) or Lachryphagy (=tear drinking) is noted in a number of moths which visit mammals including humans.[12]

Tirumala limniace

Graphium nomius

Graphium nomius

Lycaenids

Mixed species mud-puddling.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beck J., E. Mühlenberg, K. Fiedler. 1999. Mud-puddling behavior in tropical butterflies: In search of proteins or minerals? Oecologia. 119:140–148.
  2. ^ Adler P. H. 1982. Nocturnal occurrences of leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) at soil. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 55: 73–74.
  3. ^ Collenette, C. L. 1934. On the sexes of some South American moths attracted to light, human perspiration and damp sand. Entomologist. 102: 769-791.
  4. ^ B. Locke, Gard W. Otis, Nicole G. McKenzie, D. Cheung, E.C. MacLeod, and A. Kwoon (2003) Mud puddling Papilio and Battus swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae) have different mechanisms for social facilitation. 2003 ESA Annual Meeting Poster. [1] Accessed December 2006
  5. ^ Sculley, C. E., and C. L. Boggs. 1996. Mating systems and sexual division of foraging effort affect puddling behaviour by butterflies. Ecol. Entomol. 21: 193-197.
  6. ^ Sreekumar, P.G. & M. Balakrishnan (2001) Habitat and altitude preferences of butterflies in Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala. Tropical Ecology 42(2):277-281
  7. ^ Pivnik K, J. N. McNeil. 1987. Puddling in butterflies: sodium affects reproductive success in Thymelicus lineola. Physiol. Entomol. 12:461–472.
  8. ^ Molleman F., Zwaan B. J., and P. M. Brakefield. 2004. The effect of male sodium diet and mating history on female reproduction in the puddling squinting bush brown Bicyclus anynana (Lepidoptera). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 56: 404–411.
  9. ^ Medley S. R. and T. Eisner. 1996. Sodium: a male nuptial gift to its offspring. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 93: 809–813.
  10. ^ Erhardt, A., and H. P. Rusterholz. 1998. Do Peacock butterßies (Inachis io) detect and prefer nectar amino acids and other nitrogenous compounds? Oecologia (Berl.).117: 536-542.
  11. ^ Hilgartner, R., Mamisolo Raoilison, Willhelm Büttiker, David C. Lees, and Harald W. Krenn (2007) Malagasy birds as hosts for eye-frequenting moths. Biol. Lett. (2007) 3, 117–120
  12. ^ Bänziger, H. 1992 Remarkable new cases of moths drinking human tears in Thailand (Lepidoptera: Thyatiridae, Sphingidae, Notodontidae). Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam. Soc. 40, 101–102.
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