Oddity Ark #13 (193) Cherry-spot Metalmark

A long time ago an issue of Impurest’s Guide to Animals was uploaded onto Comicvine and then deleted, for reasons I’m unsure of. Well now it (or a completely new version) is back as a request issue from @cbishop. If you have an animal, plant, fungus or piece of paleofauna you want to see an issue on let me know in the comments below. Now without further ado, please welcome the return of the cherry-spot metalmark butterfly.

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Oddity Ark #13 (#193)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Riodinidae

Genus: Adelotypa

Species:annulifera

Related Species: The cherry-spot metalmark is one of sixteen metalmark butterflies found within the genus Adelotypa (1).

Range: Cherry-spot metalmarks are found in tropical forests in Guyana, Peru and Bolivia.

IUCN Status: The cherry-spot metalmark is not currently listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and as such is ‘Not Threatened’.

Daylight Robbery

Cherry-spot metalmark butterflies are small butterflies with brown forewings with a distinctive pattern of spots, while the hindwings have white markings, either at the base of the wings or across the top of the hindwings. The pattern of spots on the forewings resembles a number of aggressive ant species, and when flashed rapidly is used to reduce predation from birds who are more cautious when tackling ants over other insects. As with most butterflies, the imago is a nectivore that feeds on sap released from the tips of the fleshy fruit guadua (Guadua sarcocarpa) and taboca (G.weberbaueri), both species of clumping bamboos (2). After mating the female cherry-spot metalmark butterfly lays its eggs at the base of the guadua bamboos.

Upon hatching from the eggs, the larvae of the cherry-spot metalmark begin to climb towards the top of the bamboo. As they climb the bamboo, the larvae emit pheromones that are identical to the dominant ant species that are protecting the nectar producing tips of the bamboo. The larvae have interactions with four species of ants; the big-headed ant Pheidole sp., the bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) and the ants Megalomyrmex balzani and Ectatomma tuberculatum, all of which protect the larvae in return for producing sugary sap in return for their protection (3). This protection lasts until the larvae begins to pupate, with the ants violently defending predators that attempt to target the cherry-spot metalmark pupae.

Upon emerging as an imago, the cherry-spot metalmark feeds predominantly on the same nectar producing tips of the guadua bamboos. The protection that its ant partners afforded the larvae is maintained by the pheromones produced by the imago, but unlike the larvae the adult butterflies do nothing to repay their childhood caretakers and defenders (4). While some ants, particularly those belonging to E. tuberculatum attempt to chase adult cherry-spot metalmarks from their nectaries, the butterfly’s persistence eventually overwhelms the host ants.

CSI Ecology: The Curious Case of the Circle of Death

The ‘Victims’

A swarm of army ants (Eciton burchelli) consisting of over a thousand individuals were found arranged in a circle that spiralled outwards. All the ants’ presents were either from the worker caste, or the soldier caste and contained no reproductive individuals. While deceased the ants were all intact and seemed to show no signs of external attack.

A number of other dead ants were found clamped onto a range of understory plants with their mandibles. These ants were always found singularly and had evidence of cranial trauma and were already subject to fungal decay.

The ‘Crime Scene’

The rainforest where the ants had recently been cleared to make way for an extension to the neighbouring Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) plantation. After the vegetation had been cleared the soil and nutrients had been washed away by a storm that occurred the afternoon before suggesting that the ants had only recently died.

Tests of the soil around the circle of dead ants showed that trace amounts of fertilizer and herbicide had been washed out of the neighbouring plantation.

‘Witnesses’

A number of species that rely on ants, primarily symbiotic mites and kleptoparasitic rove beetles were found among the bodies of the ants. A few living army ants were recorded making their way towards the circle of dead ants as if they were being drawn into the area by some unseen force.

Within the neighbouring rainforest a termite mound that had recently been repaired from an attack by a tamandua anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla) was discovered.

Suspects

After much detective work, we’ve narrowed down the cause of the demise to the army ants to one (or more) of the following causes;

a) The scent of the tamandua caused the ants to bunch together and expire due to chemicals released by the defending termites.

b) A bivouacked colony was drowned by a storm that then swept them out onto an area of recently cleared forest.

c) The queen ant expired or left the colony, causing the workers and soldiers to turn on each other until the entire colony was slain.

d) Spores from a cordyceps fungus was inhaled by the ants which caused them to wander out into the cleared area where they expired.

e) A single army ant got lost spreading a pheromone trail behind it attracting other ants in. As the ant expired, more ants began to circle it until they were exhausted and expired themselves.

f) Surface runoff of chemicals from the Brazil nut farm caused the ants to die when they bivouacked in the recently cleared area.

g) The symbiotic mites picked up a disease that spread to their army ant hosts, which rapidly spread through the bivouacked colony.

The answer to this question will be supplied next week.

References

1. www.arkive.com

2. Grandtner, N.M.; Julien Chevrette, Julien (2013). Dictionary of Trees, Volume 2: South America: Nomenclature, Taxonomy and Ecology. Academic Press. p. 271

3. Torres P.J and Pomerantz A.F (2016). Butterfly Kleptoparasitism and First Account of Immature Stages, Myrmecophily, and Bamboo Host Plant of the Metalmark Adelotypaannulifera (Riodinidae), The Journal of the Lepidopterist’s Society 70(2): 130-138

4. Malhotra R (2016) Back-stabbing butterflies rob the ants that once protected them, New Scientist

Picture Credits

1. 12323593b0f2151270c30e7eaac4c534.jpg (1024×793) (pinimg.com)

2. f03_130.jpg (805×557) (bioone.org)

3. __opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__mnn__images__2018__03__Butterflies_10-ac137ed71d924be4bcfd2cc472c60d5c.jpg (768×512) (treehugger.com)

4. R.5b1d31eb154ecc325d0cac3601b10d1b (1280×720) (bing.com)

5. R.9bfb183cb312bd33df96d777e638b537 (1920×1080) (bing.com)

If you want to see more amazing animals and plants, please check out the Oddity Arkive for past issues. And if you want even more animals, please check out dearly departed Impurest Cheese’s Guide to Animals which can be found here, or on the blog of long-suffering ecology intern @ficopedia

@cbishop, @batkevin74 and @mrmonster

It's back, you mad? Only if you're a bullet ant...

@sundown89: Yay! Question though:

After much detective work, we’ve narrowed down the cause of the reindeer herds death to one (or more) of the following causes;

"reindeer herds?"

@cbishop: Crud!

@cbishop: That’s what I get for pushing through on a net total of sixteen hours sleep for the week. Will fix at some point tomorrow.

lol... you copied a previous one for the format, didn't you? ;)

@ficopedia: Fixed now

Cool. I'm going to guess "F" for the CSI answer, but I am completely guessing.

@ficopedia: You won’t have to wait to long to find out.

Just a run down of the shocking issues to come; a hostile lifeform that wants to kill everything around it, a vile little organ thief, a draconic parasite that makes its host feel like it’s burning alive, an ogre faced acid spraying abomination and a clan of inbred cannibalistic vampires.

Gee... nature is so much fun. :}

@ficopedia: Oh absolutely