Primary Research Of Life History And Ovipositon Preference Of Bhutanitis Lidderdalii

Bhutantis lidderdalii belongs to Insecta,Lepidoptera,Papilionidae,Bhutantis,is one of endangered lepidopteran insect.Bhutantis lidderdalii is listed in appendix II of CITES and national grade I protection of wild animals in China and,which has extremely high scientific research and economic value.Life history is defined as a species of growth,differentiation,reproductive,and the overall situation of dormancy and migration process,key components including body size,growth,reproduction and longevity.Comparing the Life history of the species and population characteristics,revealing their similarities and differences,and then contacting the habitat environment condition to investigate the significance of adaptability and life cycle change in survival competition,is an important task of modern ecology study.The environmental background selected by female butterflies for laying eggs is not fixed,and their oviposition preference will affect the development and survival of offspring.Butterflies are closely related to hostplants,and the selection of laying eggs may be mainly determined by the distribution and characteristics of hostplants.In order to explore the life history and oviposition preference of the species,field investigation and indoor feeding experiment were carrned out in 2016?2018.After field investigation,we found a new habitat area and record a new native host plant Aristolochia ovalifolia.Life table was obtained by using K value analysis method,and the main threatened factors for the survival of the population has been analyzed.In order to study the selection preference of female butterflies using host plants to lay eggs,the characteristics of all host plants in the study area were measured,data were visualized by principal component analysis,and the degree of data aggregation and fluctuation was discussed by boxplot,Logistic and Possion regression were carried out with the generalized linear model,and small sample size data were analyzed with Akaike information criterion for the optimal prediction model.The main results of this research are as follows:Life history:Aristolochia ovalifolia is a host plant of B.lidderdalii in Dali.The body shape and color change obviously from egg to larva development stage,and the 2?3 instar larva develops rapidly.Larvae only feed on a small amount of residual egg shell as the primary source of nutrition.1?3 instar larvae live in colonies,while 4 instar larvae start to move independently.Adults prefer to be active during cloudy and rainy periods.Feeding and courtship are carried out in the daytime,while eclosion is concentrated at nightfall.The main nutritive sources of wild adults were pollen of nectar plant,liquid of moss surface and water of shallow marsh.Major nectar plants:Anemone vitifolia Buch.-Ham.,Leontopodium andersonii C.B.Clarke,Anaphalis delavayi(Franch.)Diels,Carpesium lipskyi Winkl.For captive population,the main nutritive sources were rotten fruit juice and honey solution.Courtship takes the form of,active pursuit".Life cycle of the butterfly B.lidderdalii is 1 generation in a year and 2 batches happens apart,which was significantly different from the Bhutan population.Some natural populations occurred in May and June,and the rest occurred in August,but it did not indicate that B.lidderdalii was bivoltine insect,but that the adult was flexible in eclosion time.According to indoor breeding statistics,the average duration of egg period is 25 days,the average duration of larva period is 120 days,the average duration of pupa period is 210 days,the average life span of adult is about 40 days,and the emergence time of male adult is about 20 days ahead of the female,the female to male ratio is about 1:2.In indoor feeding,larvae were found to feed on petioles/stems,and adults showed that pupae rape-like behaviors,seems to be a manifestation of potential adaptability.The main cause of death of B.lidderdalii in natural habitat is the failure of egg hatch,predation by natural enemies,and continuous rain.For captive breeding,the main cause of death of B.lidderdalii is the failure of pupation and pupa mildew.Attempts at forced mating indoors have failed,so conservation measures for indoor breeding are not feasible.Oviposition preference:Females lay their eggs on the back of the first-year leaves of Aristolochia ovalifolia without stacking them.The distribution of butterfly eggs was not uniform,and 6.44%of the host plants in the habitat carried all the eggs.The plant characteristics of hostplant were measured in 419 individuals,and the results showed that the characteristics of plants presence/absence eggs were significantly different,and the utilization of hostplant by females was dependent on plant characteristics.The habitat of oviposition preference is under open canopy of broad-leaved forest with canopy density ranging from 60 to 75%.Although B.lidderdalii is locally abundant,its preferred oviposition hostplants are less than 38 cm in height and are only found within broadleaf forests with abundant nectar plants.The hostplants with high rate of predation will not be selected as the oviposition targets.The predation rate of hostplants leaves and the nectar plants are the key factors affecting the female's oviposition preference.The best model for predicting presence/absence of eggs on hostplants was composed of five parameters:hostplants cluster visibility,with/without nectar plants in the cluster,number of hostplants in the cluster,leaf feeding rate in the cluster,and central plant leaf feeding rate.The best model for predicting the number of eggs is composed of three parameters:the number of hostplants and leaves in the cluster,and with/without nectar plants in the cluster.It is suggested that the focus of species conservation should be on in-situ conservation and existing habitat management,and the habitat distribution of patch broad-leaved forests in pine forests should be further evaluated to study the mobility of the species between potential habitats.