Ithomiine

C. myrodora. PAs transferred from the male to the female queen butterfly find their way into the eggs in substantial quantities (Dussourd et al, 1989). This transfer is not an isolated example. Studies by Brown (1984) indicated the presence of PAs in the male reproductive tract of several ithomiine species, and Boppre (1984b) has documented a diversity of breakaway particles in several danaines. The intimate relationships between the insects, their PAs, courtship behavior, and defense are clearly the result of convergence on an effective method of antipredatory defense (Wink and von Nickisch-Rosenegk, 1997). 

Brown, K. S., Jr (1984). Adult-obtained pyrrolizidine alkaloids defend ithomiine butterflies against a spider predator. Nature 309 707-709. 

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids differential acquisition and use patterns in Apocynaceae and Solanaceae feeding ithomiine butterflies (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae). Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 58 99-123. 

Although the evidence is relatively scant, it appears likely that generally, in lepidopterans that sequester PAs, the alkaloids find themselves transmitted in part, at least, to the eggs. This may be so irrespective of whether the PAs are procured by one parent or both (Eisner et al., 2002 Nishida, 2002). The evidence is indirect but strong, for instance, that in the ithomiines the eggs are endowed, as they are in the queen butterfly, with paternally procured PAs (Brown, 1984). 

Pliske T. E. (1975b) Courtship behavior and use of chemical communication by males of certain species of ithomiine butterflies. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 68, 935-942. 

Trigo J. R., Brown K. S., Jr, Witte L., Hartmann T., Ernst L. and Barata L. E. S. (1996) Pyrrolizidine alkaloids different acquisition and use patterns in Apocynaceae and Solanaceae feeding ithomiine butterflies (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae). Biol. J. Linnean... 

More work has been reported on the nymphalid subfamilies Ithomiinae and Danainae. Dead shoots of Heliotropium indicum act as a powerful attractant for male ithomiine and danaine butterflies. The butterflies use alkaloids obtained from these plants for the production of chemicals with pheromone activity. Baiting with alkaloids and their esterifying acids indicated that a volatile product derived from... 

MASTERS, A.R., Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in artificial nectar protect adult ithomiine butterflies from a spider predator. Biotropica, 1990,22,298-304. 

Some insects ingest plant matter containing alkaloids and use alkaloids in its own metabolism. For example, Ithomiine butterflies utilize pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Moreover, it was reported even in the 1970s that some butterflies Darutus spp.) use p5rrrolizidine alkaloids from the Senecio spp. directly in their sexual life. They sequester and accumulate alkaloids during their entire adulthood and use them as pheromones. The male of the species intakes alkaloids and uses them for this purpose. It is known that the female... 

A series of polyhydroxylated tropane alkaloids have been isolated from the leaves of Solanum tuberosum and from both a sphingid moth and an ithomiine butterfly, the larvae of which feed on Solanum species (Nash et al., 1993). These alkaloids are potent glycosidase inhibitors, in a manner similar to certain hydrox3q)yrrolidine and indolizidine alkaloids see Chapter 30). 

Pliske, T. E., J. A. Edgar, and C. C. J. Culvenor, The chemical basis of attraction of ithomiine butterflies to plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids, J. Chem. Ecol., 2, 255-262 (1976). 

Although the larvae of many ithomiine butterflies feed on solanaceous plants and must be adapted to the presence of steroid alkaloids, the distasteful properties of adults are... 

Drummond, B. A., Ill, Coevolution of ithomiine butterflies and solanaceous plants, in Solanaceae. Biology and Systematics (W. G. D Arcy, ed.), 307-327, Columbia University Press, New York, 1986. 

Brown, K.S., Jr., and J. Vasconcellos Neto Predation on Aposematic Ithomiine Butterflies by Tanagers Pipraeidea melanonota). Biotropica 8, 136-141 (1976). 

Brown and Benson (1974) have described an extensive polymorphism in H. numata. They ascribe the unexpected polymorphism in this Mullerian mimic to the spatial and temporal fluctuations of the larger and much more abundant ithomiine model/mimics, providing a further example of Batesian selection in a Miillerian system. 

Brown, Jr., K. S. and Neto, J. V. (1976) Predation on aposematic ithomiine butterflies by Tanagers Pipraeidea melanota). Biotropica, 8, 136-41. 

A number of male courtship pheromones are known to be synthesized from the necine base moiety of plant-acquired PAs by certain alkaloid sequestering Arctiidae, Danainae, and Ithomiinae [75,96] (Fig. 11). The giant white danaine butterfly Idea leuconoe [97,98] and most ithomiine butterflies even use lactones as pheromones derived from necic acids such as the (-)-viridifloric acid from... 

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