ABSTRACT
Plant secondary metabolites have a role in defense against various herbivores, but they also often attract particular species and stimulate their oviposition and feeding behavior. Most butterflies are phytophagous in the larval stage and have a strong relationship with a narrow range of plants with a phylogenetic relationship and chemical similarity. Because larvae and females can respond to various plant chemicals using chemotactile (gustatory) receptors, behavioral and sensory adaptation to particular compounds are presumed to lead to the evolution of host specificity. From a limited range of butterfly species in the Pieridae, Papilionidae, and Nymphalidae, a variety of plant components have been identified as semiochemicals for host selection, the majority of which are associated with female oviposition. The oviposition stimulants identified so far are i) single compounds in relation to plant defensive chemicals or ii) multiple components including relatively ubiquitous derivatives from primary metabolites. The finding that several closely related butterfly species use the same or corresponding compounds in different plants for host acceptance in part supports a putative evolutionary pathway in species diversification and host shift at the tribe or subfamily level.
