Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 15:10:e83842.
doi: 10.3897/BDJ.10.e83842. eCollection 2022.

The first record of the parasitic myrmecophilous caterpillar Liphyrabrassolis (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) inside Asian weaver ant (Oecophyllasmaragdina) nests in oil palm plantations

Andreas Dwi Advento  1   2 , Kalsum M Yusah  2   3 , Hasber Salim  4 , Mohammad Naim  1 , Jean-Pierre Caliman  1 , Tom Maurice Fayle  5   6
Affiliations

The first record of the parasitic myrmecophilous caterpillar Liphyrabrassolis (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) inside Asian weaver ant (Oecophyllasmaragdina) nests in oil palm plantations

Andreas Dwi Advento et al. Biodivers Data J. .

Abstract

Asian weaver ants (Oecophyllasmaragdina) are an important biocontrol agent in agricultural habitats. We conducted surveys in oil palm plantations in Riau, Indonesia for an obligate myrmecophilous butterfly larvae, Liphyrabrassolis (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), that is known to consume weaver ant larvae in other habitat types. We found L.brassolis larvae in five of the twenty nests surveyed, with larval presence not being related to weaver ant nest size. We also observed L.brassolis larvae in a weaver ant mass rearing facility. This is the first report of L.brassolis from oil palm plantations and may have implications for the use of weaver ants as biological control agents.

Keywords: Formicidae; Riau; bagworm; biocontrol; parasitism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1a.
Figure 1a.
dorsal side of larva
Figure 1b.
Figure 1b.
ventral side of larva
Figure 1c.
Figure 1c.
pupal stage
Figure 1d.
Figure 1d.
pupal exuvia
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Relationship between Liphyrabrassolis larvae occurrence and weaver ant nest volume. Fitted line comes from a GLM with binomial errors.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Presence of Liphyrabrassolis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), an obligate-parasitic myrmecophily larva, inside a weaver ant (Oecophyllasmaragdina) colony in the mass-rearing facility.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anato F. M., Sinzogan A. A. C., Offenberg J., Adandonon A., Wargui R. B., Deguenon J. M., Ayelo P. M., Vayssières J. - F., Kossou D. K. Oecophyllalonginoda (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) lead to increased cashew kernel size and kernel quality. Journal of Economic Entomology. 2017;110(3):1133–1137. doi: 10.1093/jee/tox054. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bates Douglas, Mächler Martin, Bolker Ben, Walker Steve. Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software. 2015;67(1):1–48. doi: 10.18637/jss.v067.i01. - DOI
    1. Césard Nicolas. In: Forest products, Livelihoods and Conservation. Case Studies of Non-Timber Forest Product Systems. Kusters Koen, Belcher Brian., editors. 1. Asia. Center for International Forestry Research; Bogor: 2004. Harvesting and commercialisation of kroto (Oecophylla smaragdina) in the Malingping area, West Java, Indonesia.10.
    1. Crawley Michael J. Statistics: An Introduction Using R. 2nd edition. John Wiley and Sons; Chichester: 2015. 357.
    1. Crozier Ross H., Newey Philip S., Schluns Ellen A., Robson Simon K. A., et al. A masterpiece of evolution - Oecophylla weaver ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) ISSN 1997-3500 Myrmecological News, 2010;13(May):57–71.

LinkOut - more resources