Meeting Abstract

P1.3  Friday, Jan. 4  The role of larval dietary carotenoids in an adult butterfly’s vision and nectar-foraging behavior WANG, DL*; PAPAJ, DR; The University of Arizona; The University of Arizona wangd2@email.arizona.edu

Vision is a key sensory system for many animals. For vision to occur, light-detecting photopigments in the eye must trigger a downstream neurological cascade. Carotenoids such as beta-carotene are precursors to such photopigments. However, animals cannot synthesize carotenoids de novo and must obtain them from their diet. Due to drastically different mouthparts as larva and adult, holometabolous insects such as butterflies are restricted to obtaining dietary carotenoids in their larval life stage. As such, their adult vision is a product of their larval diet. Although some is known about the physiological effects of larval dietary carotenoids on adult vision, little is known about the effects on visually-mediated behaviors such as nectar-foraging. Here, we rear larvae of cabbage white butterflies, Pieris rapae, on standard and carotenoid-fortified diets to determine the effects of larval dietary carotenoids on adult visual carotenoid levels, visual sensitivity, and color preference in a nectar-foraging context.