![]() Empirical studies describe that in case of butterfly species those with high wing loading visits clustered flowers and species with low wing loading restricts their visits to solitary flowers (Corbet 2000). Therefore flowers with long corolla restrict butterfly species with shorter proboscis to nectar uptake (Corbet 2000). In case of butterfly, nectar uptake is determined by proboscis length. In butterfly-plant association, for the butterflies, attraction to the nectar source is dependent on quality of nectar, corolla length, and nectar quantity (Corbet 2000). ![]() Many studies proved that several species from Papillinodiae and Pieridae family preferred purple colours and yellow colour is preferable for some species from Pieridae and Nymphalidae family (Ilse and Vaidya 1956 Swihart 1970 Scherer and Kolb 1987 Tiple et al. Which flowers will be preferred by the visitor species and which not depends on the colour of the flower also (Ilse 1928). Often, these insects are known as opportunistic feeder of the flowering plants (Courtney 1986). During feeding, these lepidopteran insects contribute pollination in many of the visiting plants (Lewis 1989 Goulson et al. In plant-pollinator guild, butterfly make important part mainly they feed on nectar or pollen and thus the proboscis of the visitor butterfly species are considered as one of the important variable (Krenn et al. It has been described that there is good match between flowers and feeding structures of insects (Heinrich 1976 Grant and Grant 1983 Johnson and Steiner 1997 Alexandersson and Johnson 2002 Temeles and Kress 2003). Pollinators utilize plant signals to differentiate between morphologically similar plants such as honey bees and bumblebees do for nectar collection (Kunze and Gumbert 2001). Different traits of the flowering plants such as colour, scents are largely decide pollinator insect guild (Dobson 1994 Lunau and Maier 1995). So, that study determined the butterfly species helps in pollination of these herbs that in turn helps the conservation of these butterfly species.įor reproductive success of arthropod pollinators, evolution of angiosperm flowering plants are closely linked (Barth 1991). The present study proved that butterfly species visits frequently in Tridax procumbens (TPR), Ocimum americanum (OAM) but less frequently in Syndrella nodiflora (SNO). The species do not visit Lantana camara (LCA) and Catharanthus roseus (CRO) plants. This study proved that these seven butterfly species namely Castalius rosimon (CRN), Taracus nara (TNA), Zizinia otis (ZOT), Zizula hylax (ZHY), Jamides celeno (JCE), Chilades laius (CLA), and Psuedozizeeria maha (PMA) visit frequently in Tridax procumbens (TPR), Ocimum americanum (OAM) and Syndrella nodiflora (SNO). Wing span indicate a strong positive relationship with body weight. Body length maintains a positive relationship with body weight and wing span. The proboscis length maintains a positive relationship with body length and body weight. In this study, we demonstrated flower choice of seven butterfly species belonging to Lycanidiae family. Although they mainly visit on less deeper flower to sucking nectar, butterflies with high wing loading visits clustered flowers to fulfill their energy requirements. Resultsīutterflies with shorter proboscis cannot access nectar from deeper flower. ![]() The present study tries to investigate the flower preference of butterfly species from Lycaenidae family having very short proboscis, lower body length, lower body weight and wing span than the most species belonging from Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Papilionidae, and Hesperiidae. Empirical studies proved that butterfly species with high wing loading visit clustered flowers and species with low wing loading confined their visit to solitary or less nectar rich flowers. For the butterfly, nectar uptake is determined by proboscis length because flowers with long corolla restrict butterfly species containing shorter proboscis. In butterfly-plant association, nectar source is principally determined by quality of nectar, corolla length, and nectar quantity. These are nectar feeder or occasionally pollen feeder and thus proboscis of the butterfly species are considered as one of the most important variable in relation to the collection of food from plants. Butterflies make an important part for plant-pollinator guild. ![]()
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