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Vol. 59, 2020
(update: 2020.03.10; 04.10)
Roosting Site Usage, Gregarious
Roosting and Behavioral Interactions During Roost-assembly of Two
Lycaenidae Butterflies
Yuan-Mou
Chang1,*, Kent A. Hatch2, Mei-Yi Ho1,
Stephen H. Roxburgh3, Yi-Ting Wu1, Yi-Kuang Wang1,
Shuang-Ru Wang1, and Zi-Xuan You1
doi:-
1Department
of Ecology and Environmental Resources, National University of Tainan,
33 Su-Lin Street, Section 2, Tainan 700, Taiwan. *Correspondence:
E-mail: changyuanmou@gmail.com (Chang)
E-mail: meiyiher@gmail.com (Ho); ejleci@hotmail.com (Wu);
ykwang@mail.nutn.edu.tw (YK Wang); v.w.sagittarius@gmail.com (SR Wang);
ann870321@gmail.com (You)
2Department of Biology, Long Island University – Post,
Brookville, NY, USA. E-mail: kent.hatch@liu.edu (Hatch)
3CSIRO Land & Water, GPO Box 1700, Canberra ACT
2601 / Clunies Ross Street Acton ACT 2601. E-mail:
stephen.roxburgh@csiro.au (Roxburgh)
Received 15 July 2019 / Accepted 9
March 2020
Communicated by Shen-Horn Yen
Lycaenidae
is one of the larger of the world’s butterfly families, based on number
and diversity of species, but knowledge of roosting in this group is
sparse. Zizina otis riukuensis
and Zizeeria maha okinawana are two small lycaenids
that are commonly found in urban settings and widely distributed across
much of Asia. We conducted experiments on a university campus to
determine the plant species and plant structures
commonly used by these two blues when roosting. We also tested the
hypothesis that gregarious roosting exists in these two blues by
demonstrating the non-random distribution of roosting blues and the
tight mapping of their roosts to the spatial distribution of specific
plant species and/or specific plant structures, as well as by
demonstrating behavioral interactions among individuals during
roosting-assembly. We found that both Z.
otis and Z. maha
roosted primarily on flowers and fruits of Tridax procumbens and Vernonia cinerea. We also found that these
blues formed conspicuous roosting aggregations with significant
positive associations between the flowers and fruits of both T. procumbens and V. cinerea and the blues.
Moreover, our behavioral observations showed that these blues expressed
various levels of interaction during roosting gatherings. Based on
these findings, we conclude that gregarious roosting exists in both Z. otis and Z. maha. To our knowledge, this
paper represents one of the first demonstration of nocturnal gregarious
roosting in lycaenids. This study also highlights the importance of
institutional estates in providing roosting resources for butterflies
in urban ecosystems.
Key words: Nocturnal roosting, Zizina otis riukuensis, Zizeeria maha, Roosting
aggregation,
Lycaenidae, Institutional estates, Conservation biology.
Citation: Chang YM, Hatch KA, Ho MY,
Roxburgh SH, Wu YT, Wang YK, Wang SR, You ZX. 2020. Roosting site
usage, gregarious roosting and behavioral interactions during
roost-assembly of two Lycaenidae butterflies. Zool Stud 59:10. doi:10.6620/ZS.2020.59-10.
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