Summary: Journal of Animal
Ecology 2001
70, 997­1005
© 2001 British
Ecological Society
Blackwell Science Ltd
The role of plant trichomes and caterpillar group size
on growth and defence of the pipevine swallowtail
Battus philenor
JAMES A. FORDYCE* and ANURAG A. AGRAWAL
*Section of Evolution and Ecology, Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA;
and Department of Botany, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Canada, ON M5S 3B2
Summary
1. The California population of the pipevine swallowtail Battus philenor is a specialist
on the Dutchman's pipe Aristolochia californica, an endemic vine that is densely covered
withtrichomes.Populationsof B.philenoroutsideCaliforniauseotherAristolochiaspe-
cies that are largely glabrous. The average clutch size of the pipevine swallowtail is larger
in California compared with populations elsewhere and larvae feed gregariously until
late in the third instar.
2. In the field, caterpillars consumed more leaf material and showed preference for por-

Source: Agrawal, Anurag - Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Entomollogy, Cornell University
Fordyce, James - Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee

Collections: Biology and Medicine; Environmental Sciences and Ecology