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1 April 2014 Temporal Occurrence of Two Morpho Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): Influence of Weather and Food Resources
Geraldo Freire, André Rangel Nascimento, Ivan Konstantinov Malinov, Ivone R. Diniz
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Abstract

The seasonality of fruit-feeding butterflies is very well known. However, few studies have analyzed the influence of climatic variables and resource availability on the temporal distributions of butterflies. Morpho helenor achillides (C. Felder and R. Felder 1867) and Morpho menelaus coeruleus (Perry 1810) (Nymphalidae) were used as models to investigate the influences of climatic factors and food resources on the temporal distribution of these Morphinae butterflies. These butterflies were collected weekly from January 2005 to December 2006 in the Parque Nacional de Brasília (PNB). In total, 408 individuals were collected, including 274 of M. helenor and 134 of M. menelaus. The relative abundance of the two species was similar in 2005 (n = 220) and 2006 (n = 188). Of the variables considered, only the relative humidity and resource availability measured in terms of phenology of zoochorous fruits of herbaceous plants explained a large proportion of the variation in the abundance of these butterflies. Both of the explanatory variables were positively associated with the total abundance of individuals and with the abundances of M. helenor and M. menelaus considered separately. The phenology of anemochorous fruits was negatively associated with butterfly abundance. The temporal distribution of the butterflies was better predicted by the phenology of the zoochorous fruits of herbaceous plants than by the climatic predictors.

© 2014 Entomological Society of America
Geraldo Freire, André Rangel Nascimento, Ivan Konstantinov Malinov, and Ivone R. Diniz "Temporal Occurrence of Two Morpho Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): Influence of Weather and Food Resources," Environmental Entomology 43(2), 274-282, (1 April 2014). https://doi.org/10.1603/EN12352
Received: 19 December 2012; Accepted: 1 January 2014; Published: 1 April 2014
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KEYWORDS
fruit-feeding Lepidoptera
gallery forest
plant phenology
Seasonality
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