Host Finding and Recognition by \u3cem\u3ePapilio Polyxenes\u3c/em\u3e (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae): The Effects of Three Host Cues and of Host-Plant Experience on Oviposition Behavior

Herbivorous insects are rarely able to eat all kinds of available plant material. The majority of phytophagous insects are oligophagous, feeding on a variety of host plants that are botanically and/or chemically related (Strong, et al. 1984; Jermy, et al. 1990; Bemays and Chapman 1994). This provides these insects the flexibility to exploit a variety of plant species; however, even closely-related plants can differ in such phenotypic characters as growth form, leaf shape, and chemistry. How then can we account for the fidelity of oligophagous insects for a particular set of plants growing in complex vegetation? Clearly, host-finding responses to at least some plant traits must have a heritable component, and may be subject to experience-induced modification. Remarkably, little is known of the relative roles of nature and nurture in host-finding by herbivorous insects