Post-aestivation puddling by female Chazara briseis lamacana (Oberthiir, 1909) and Maniola cypricola (Graves, 1928) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Satyrinae): influences and implications

摘要

Mud-puddling by female Lepidoptera is rarely reported. In this paper, post-aestivation puddling by females of Chazara briseis lamacana and Maniola cypricola as a possible means of enhancing fecundity is discussed. Both are long-lived Cyprus endemics that mate in spring but undergo arrested ovarian development pending the return of more favourable conditions for larval survival in the autumn. The delay between mating and ovipositing appears to indicate a need for post-aestivation females to puddle inorder to replenish depleted resources initially gained at the larval stages and through the transfer of minerals and nutrients via the spermatophore at mating. A first known report of marine (seawater) puddling by C. briseis is also discussed, as is theimportance of Dittrichia viscosa as a late-season nectar resource for many species of butterfly.