Skip Navigation


Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on June 16, 2004
Behavioral Ecology 2004 15(6):982-987; doi:10.1093/beheco/arh102
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
15/6/982    most recent
arh102v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lyytinen, A.
Right arrow Articles by Mappes, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lyytinen, A.
Right arrow Articles by Mappes, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Behavioral Ecology vol. 15 no. 6 © International Society for Behavioral Ecology 2004; all rights reserved

Ultraviolet reflection and predation risk in diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera

Anne Lyytinen, Leena Lindström and Johanna Mappes

Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Address correspondence to A. Lyytinen. E-mail: alyytine{at}bytl.jyu.fi.

According to our extensive data on Lepidoptera (883 species), UV wing patterns are almost three times more common in nocturnal than in diurnal Lepidoptera. This might be due to predation, because the primary diurnal predators, birds, utilize UV light in foraging and even prefer UV-reflecting prey. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a field experiment with tethered living moths whose wings were artificially manipulated to reflect (UV+, reflection at UV wavelength: 15%) or absorb (UV–) UV light, keeping longer wavelengths identical. Thus, any difference found in survival rates would be the result of the difference in wing patterns in UV spectrum. Significantly more UV+ moths than UV– ones were eaten in the daytime, but no difference in predation rates could be detected when moths were exposed to nocturnal predators. The different survival rates indicate that UV reflection increased predation risk by visually orienting diurnal predators. The lack of difference at night arises from the lack of UV-sensitive predators. UV wing patterns, even if they are important in intraspecies communication, seem to be costly to diurnal Lepidoptera by attracting predators.

Key words: Lepidoptera, predation, prey detection, ultraviolet reflection.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
D. J Kemp
Female butterflies prefer males bearing bright iridescent ornamentation
Proc R Soc B, April 22, 2007; 274(1613): 1043 - 1047.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.