Chemical Defense in the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly, Eurytides marcellus, Involv

Many organisms are known to produce or sequester toxic compounds as a form of chemical defense. A classic example is illustrated in the relationship between the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.), and its larval food plant, the milkweed, Asclepias curassavica L.; monarch larvae feed o­n the milkweed and retain cardiac glycosides, found therein, in their body tissues, thereby conferring the adult butterfly unpalatable to potential bird predators. The zebra swallowtail butterfly, Eurytides marcellus (Cramer) (Papilionidae), is also known to sequester specific compounds from its larval food source, the North American paw paw tree, Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal (Annonaceae); however, the retained compounds, as reported previously, are innocuous flavonoid pigments that have no role in defense.

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