Egg-laying by the speckled wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria): the role of female behaviour, host plant abundance and temperature

Abstract

ABSTRACT.

• 1Egg-laying by Pararge aegeria (L.) was studied in relation to host plant abundance, temperature and behaviour in one woodland site in central England.
• 2Eggs were laid on the undersides of leaves of fifteen of thirty-one species of grass located in the study site. Most were deposited singly although on several occasions a number of females laid on a single leaf.
• 3There was no clear relationship between host plant abundance and host plant use, the species used being widespread and abundant.
• 4Most eggs were laid on plants within the temperature range 24–30°C. In spring and later summer these sites were in sunlit open areas but in midsummer they were in the woodland ground layer.
• 5Females distributed their eggs over a large area, usually making a dispersal flight after laying an egg.