Lifecycle of the Lilac Silverline Butterfly (IMAGE)

National Centre for Biological Sciences

Lifecycle of the Lilac Silverline Butterfly

Caption

The lifecycle of the Lilac Silverline butterfly (Apharitis lilacinus) showing larval and pupal associations with Crematogaster hodgsoni cocktail ants, a behaviour that is termed myrmecophily, meaning 'love of ants'. Structures of the specialized organs that mediate caterpillar-ant interactions are shown on the right. Taken from Basu and Kunte (2020).

Credit

Images of egg: Nitin Ravikanthachari; pupa and ant-caterpillar/pupa interaction: Ashok Sengupta and G. S. Girish Kumar; larval organs: Dipendra Nath Basu; specimens: Krushnamegh Kunte

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