Host-ant specificity of endangered large blue butterflies (Phengaris spp., Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in Japan.
Large blue butterflies, Phengaris (Maculinea), are an important focus of endangered-species conservation in Eurasia. Later-instar Phengaris caterpillars live in Myrmica ant nests and exploit the ant colony's resources, and they are specialized to specific host-ant species. For example, local extinction of P. arion in the U. K. is thought to have been due to the replacement of its host-ant species with a less-suitable congener, as a result of changes in habitat. In Japan, Myrmica kotokui hosts P. teleius and P. arionides caterpillars. We recently showed, however, that the morphological species M. kotokui actually comprises four genetic clades. Therefore, to determine to which group of ants the hosts of these two Japanese Phengaris species belong, we used mitochondrial COI-barcoding of M. kotokui specimens from colonies in the habitats of P. teleius and P. arionides to identify the ant clade actually parasitized by the caterpillars of each species. We found that these two butterfly species parasitize different ant clades within M. kotokui.
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.|Graduate School of Life and Environmental Science, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Nakaku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan.
Shouhei
S
Ueda
The institute of tropical agriculture, Kyushu University, Hakozaki 6-10-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
Takashi
T
Komatsu
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.|Institute of Mountain Science, Shinshu University, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.
Takao
T
Itino
Department of Mountain and Environmental Science, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Kamiina, Nagano 399-4598, Japan.
Ryusuke
R
Arai
Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tamagawagakuen 6-1-1, Machida, Tokyo 194-8610, Japan.
Hironori
H
Sakamoto
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D002080:Butterflies / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D056727:Endangered Species; D058507:Host Specificity; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny
D019476:Insect Proteins; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV