ScienceAsia 29 (2003): 197-202 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2003.29.197

Observations on Resource Partitioning Among Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Lycaenid Larvae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) Associated with Pueraria phaseoloides in South Thailand

Gregory R. Ballmer^*

ABSTRACT: Inflorescences of the leguminous vine, Pueraria phaseoloides (Roxb.) Bth. were surveyed for the presence of associated ants and lycaenid butterfly immatures on Khao Khaw Hong, near Hat Yai City, Songkhla, Thailand, during January and February 2001. Fifteen ant species in 12 genera and three species of lycaenid larvae and eggs were found on 934 of 1202 inflorescences. Two ants, Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius, 1775) and Dolichoderus thoracicus (Smith, 1857), were present on approximately 60% of allantoccupied inflorescences, and were associated exclusively with larvae of the lycaenid butterflies Rapala pheretima (Hewitson, 1863) and Catochrysops panormus (Felder, 1860), respectively. Larvae of Jamides celeno (Cramer, 1775), which comprised approximately 2/3 of all lycaenid larvae, were associated with six ant species, but most frequently with Anoplolepis gracilipes (Smith, 1857) and Tapinoma indicum Forel, 1895. Seven ant species not associated with any lycaenid larvae collectively occupied approximately 10% of all ant-occupied inflorescences.

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Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.

* Corresponding author, Email: gregory.ballmer@ucr.edu

Received 31 Oct 2002, Accepted 4 Apr 2003