Data on the ant hosts of the Maculinea butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) of Hungary
Abstract
Additional and preliminary data are given on host specificity o f the Maculinea butterflies in the Carpathian Basin. This work was conducted to get more information about the host ants of these butterflies for their better protection. Several hundreds of Myrmica nests on about 30 sites were examined to find out the host specificity level of the Maculinea butterflies. Our work contained two elements, field work and laboratory examinations with testing the adoption of Maculinea caterpillars in artificial Myrmica nests. We found Maculinea alcon alcon only in Myrmica scabrinodis nests; Maculinea rebeli xerophila in Myrmica sabuleti, M. lonae, M. scabrinodis and M. specioides nests; Maculinea teleius in Myrmica gallienii, M. salina, M. scabrinodis and M. specioides nests. Laboratory observations partly confirmed these results, furthermore the potential host ant species of Maculinea alcon alcon were completed with three others; Myrmica gallienii, M. salina and M. specioides. As our results show the host ants of the Hungarian Maculinea populations are almost the same as the ones known in Poland and in Eastern Austria. However they are often different from the ones found in Western Europe.
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