Reproductive Tactics in Tropical Butterflies:
Love or Life: How do butterflies balance survival and reproduction?
Glasswing butterflies use toxic plant compounds to protect themselves from predators - but male Glasswings must give up some of that protection to mate.
Have you ever seen a butterfly posing beautifully on a flower and wondered what they're up to? If you look closely, you'll see them, uncoiling their proboscis (fused mouthparts, kind of like a built in straw). Certainly, they're searching for sugar to fuel their flight, but some butterflies are getting a more bitter mouthful. Being a butterfly in the world can be challenging: birds, lizards and spiders are all around, searching for their next meal to fly by. Having some way to defend yourself, in this case, some chemical armour, can really help! Glasswing butterflies sequester pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), which are toxic to a wide range of predators. However, this labour is not distributed equally, and only male glasswings visit plants to get PAs. Females wait for their mates to supply them with protective plant chemicals so only males bear the cost of getting and storing the plant chemicals. The things we do for love! Is the cost worth the benefit for male glasswings?
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