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Published:
Dec 18, 2019Updated:
2019-12-18DOI:
10.4314/met.v30i1.5Keywords:
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Main Article Content
Observations on feeding behaviour of adults of the Common Buff butterfly, Baliochila aslanga (Lycaenidae: Poritiinae) at extra-floral nectaries on Adenopodia spicata (Mimosaceae)
Abstract
Novel feeding behaviour by adult Common Buff butterflies, Baliochila aslanga (Lycaenidae: Poritiinae), is reported on. Nectar assimilation from extra-floral nectaries is known for a number of members of the Poritiinae, and some species also obtain their energy requirements from hemipteran honeydew excrement. We document the first record for the genus Baliochila of an adult butterfly feeding at extra-floral nectaries. Baliochila aslanga was observed imbibing nectar from petiolar glands of Adenopodia spicata (Mimosaceae) in Sodwana Bay National Park in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The searching behaviour to locate the glands and subsequent feeding behaviour, as well as the petiolar glandular morphology, is described and supported by high quality photographs.
