Basic to our understanding of any animal and its habitat requirements is knowing what it eats. Presented here are feeding observations of 18 species of caterpillars encountered in Wisconsin prairies and savannas over 1992-2002. These food plants are previously unreported for these insects

Williams, Andrew H

English

Valparaiso University

The Great Lakes Entomologist Volume 36 Numbers 3 & 4 - Fall/Winter 2003 Numbers 3 & 4 - Fall/Winter 2003 Article 6 October 2003 Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin Prairies and Savannas Andrew H. Williams University of Wisconsin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle  Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Williams, Andrew H. 2003. "Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin Prairies and Savannas," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 36 (2) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol36/iss2/6 This Peer-Review Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 152 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 36, Nos. 3 & 4FEEDING RECORDS OF CATERPILLARS (LEPIDOPTERA)FROM WISCONSIN PRAIRIES AND SAVANNASAndrew H. Williams1ABSTRACTBasic to our understanding of any animal and its habitat requirements isknowing what it eats.  Presented here are feeding observations of 18 species ofcaterpillars encountered in Wisconsin prairies and savannas over 1992-2002.These food plants are previously unreported for these insects.____________________Knowing what an animal eats is basic to our understanding of that ani-mal and its habitat requirements.  Over 1992-2002, I accumulated many obser-vations of insects feeding in the prairies and savannas of southwestern Wiscon-sin.  Caterpillars found feeding were reared in the lab on the same plant specieson which they had been found.  The adult specimens were then given to the InsectResearch Collection of the Entomology Department at University of Wisconsin– Madison.  Food plants presented in Table 1 are previously unreported for the18 species in 10 families of Lepidoptera listed.  Other, similar results from thisresearch can be found in Williams (1995, 1997, 1999, 2003).Unless otherwise noted in Table 1, I collected these insects and identifiedthese insects and plants.  Plant nomenclature herein follows Gleason andCronquist (1991).ACKNOWLEDGMENTSMy prairie insect research over 1992-2002 was supported, in part, bygrants from The Prairie Enthusiasts - Southwest Chapter, Citizens NaturalResources Association of Wisconsin, Lois Almon Small Grants Program, Natu-ral History Museums Council of UW - Madison, The Nature Conservancy, theCooperative Prairie Insect Project administered by Wisconsin Department ofNatural Resources and supported by a grant from U. S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice Partnership for Wildlife Grant Program, and several private donors, sup-port for which I am most grateful.  Many individuals were in other ways support-ive of my research, notably these, in the context of this paper: M. Anderson, G.Balogh, M. Black, A. Blattner, C. Brabant, R. Christoffel, J. Dunford, G. Eldred,L. Ferge, J. Gruber, G. Johnson, K. Katovich, S. Krauth, N. Kriska, D. LeDoux, A.Lisberg, D. Mahr, B. Mandernack, J. Maxwell, E. Metzler, E. Munroe, M. Nielsen,M. & R. Norman, G. Parsons, M. Price, A. Ramsdale, D. Schlicht, J. & R. Sime,S. Statz, A. & S. Swengel, J. Trager and M. Ulrich.  This work simply could nothave been done without the help of E. Williams and D. Young.LITERATURE CITEDGleason, H. A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeasternUnited States and adjacent Canada. 2nd ed. N. Y. Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.Williams, A. H. 1995. New larval host plant and behavior of Chlosyne gorgone (Lepi-doptera: Nymphalidae). Gt. Lakes Entomol. 28:93-94.Williams, A. H. 1997. Notes on the life histories of Chlosyne (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)and Agrypon (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Gt. Lakes Entomol. 30:65-66.1Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706.1Williams: Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin PraiPublished by ValpoScholar, 20032003 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 153Williams, A. H. 1999. Arthropod fauna using the plant Onosmodium molle in Wiscon-sin. pp. 165-171. In: Springer, J. T. (ed.), Central Nebraska loess hills prairie, 16thNorth American Prairie Conf. Proc., Dept. of Biology, University of Nebraska atKearney.Williams, A. H. 2003. Oxypolis rigidior, a new larval food plant record for Papiliopolyxenes (Papilionidae). J. Lep. Soc. 57:149-150.2The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 36, No. 2 [2003], Art. 6https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol36/iss2/6154 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 36, Nos. 3 & 4Table 1.  Observations of caterpillars feeding on previously unreported food plants.Species NameFood PlantPlant Structure Fed Upon & NotesArctiidaeEstigmene acrea (Drury)Liatris asperaside of inflorescence, floretsSpilosoma virginica (Fabricius)Impatiens capensisleafSilphium laciniatumleafLycaenidaeEveres comyntas (Godart)1Desmodium illinoensedeveloping lomentNoctuidaeCatabena lineolata Walker1Verbena hastatayoungest leavesCrambodes talidiformis Guenee1Verbena hastatayoungest leavesPapaipema arctivorens Hampson1Cacalia atriplicifoliastem borerPyrrhia adela Lafontaine & Mikkola1Desmodium canadensedeveloping lomentsDesmodium illinoensedeveloping loments, small caterpillars ateyoungest leaves, flower buds and flowersNotodontidaeDatana ministra (Drury)1Pyrus ioensisleavesNymphalidaeChlosyne gorgone (Hubner)Rudbeckia hirtaleavesEuphydryas phaeton (Drury)Pedicularis lanceolataleaves, last instar larvaePolygonia interrogationis (Fabricius)Ulmus pumilaleavesOecophoridaeAgonopterix lythrella (Walsingham)2Hypericum pyramidatumfeeding in sewn shoot tipsPyralidaeHerpetogramma pertextalis (Lederer)3Spiraea albain tube of young leavesUresiphita reversalis (Guenee)1Baptisia lactealeaves3Williams: Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin PraiPublished by ValpoScholar, 20032003 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 155Table 1.  Continued.Species NameFood PlantPlant Structure Fed Upon & NotesSaturniidaeAutomeris io (Fabricius)Apios americanaleafSphingidaeHyles lineata (Fabricius)1Oenothera clelandiiflowers and bractsTortricidaeChoristoneura rosaceana (Harris)2Lonicera dioicain rolled leaf, desired but unreachable byant Formica subsericea Say4Sparganothis sulfureana (Clemens)2Heliopsis helianthoidesin folded leaf1 Determined by L. Ferge.2 Determined by E. Metzler.3 Determined by E. Munroe.4 Determined by J. Trager.4The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 36, No. 2 [2003], Art. 6https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol36/iss2/6

Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin Prairies and Savannas

ValpoScholar

The Great Lakes Entomologist 
Volume 36 
Numbers 3 & 4 - Fall/Winter 2003 Numbers 3 & 
4 - Fall/Winter 2003 
Article 6 
October 2003 
Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin 
Prairies and Savannas 
Andrew H. Williams 
University of Wisconsin 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle 
 Part of the Entomology Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Williams, Andrew H. 2003. "Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin Prairies and 
Savannas," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 36 (2) 
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol36/iss2/6 
This Peer-Review Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. 
It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. 
For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 
152 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 36, Nos. 3 & 4
FEEDING RECORDS OF CATERPILLARS (LEPIDOPTERA)
FROM WISCONSIN PRAIRIES AND SAVANNAS
Andrew H. Williams1
ABSTRACT
Basic to our understanding of any animal and its habitat requirements is
knowing what it eats.  Presented here are feeding observations of 18 species of
caterpillars encountered in Wisconsin prairies and savannas over 1992-2002.
These food plants are previously unreported for these insects.
____________________
Knowing what an animal eats is basic to our understanding of that ani-
mal and its habitat requirements.  Over 1992-2002, I accumulated many obser-
vations of insects feeding in the prairies and savannas of southwestern Wiscon-
sin.  Caterpillars found feeding were reared in the lab on the same plant species
on which they had been found.  The adult specimens were then given to the Insect
Research Collection of the Entomology Department at University of Wisconsin
– Madison.  Food plants presented in Table 1 are previously unreported for the
18 species in 10 families of Lepidoptera listed.  Other, similar results from this
research can be found in Williams (1995, 1997, 1999, 2003).
Unless otherwise noted in Table 1, I collected these insects and identified
these insects and plants.  Plant nomenclature herein follows Gleason and
Cronquist (1991).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My prairie insect research over 1992-2002 was supported, in part, by
grants from The Prairie Enthusiasts - Southwest Chapter, Citizens Natural
Resources Association of Wisconsin, Lois Almon Small Grants Program, Natu-
ral History Museums Council of UW - Madison, The Nature Conservancy, the
Cooperative Prairie Insect Project administered by Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources and supported by a grant from U. S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice Partnership for Wildlife Grant Program, and several private donors, sup-
port for which I am most grateful.  Many individuals were in other ways support-
ive of my research, notably these, in the context of this paper: M. Anderson, G.
Balogh, M. Black, A. Blattner, C. Brabant, R. Christoffel, J. Dunford, G. Eldred,
L. Ferge, J. Gruber, G. Johnson, K. Katovich, S. Krauth, N. Kriska, D. LeDoux, A.
Lisberg, D. Mahr, B. Mandernack, J. Maxwell, E. Metzler, E. Munroe, M. Nielsen,
M. & R. Norman, G. Parsons, M. Price, A. Ramsdale, D. Schlicht, J. & R. Sime,
S. Statz, A. & S. Swengel, J. Trager and M. Ulrich.  This work simply could not
have been done without the help of E. Williams and D. Young.
LITERATURE CITED
Gleason, H. A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern
United States and adjacent Canada. 2nd ed. N. Y. Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.
Williams, A. H. 1995. New larval host plant and behavior of Chlosyne gorgone (Lepi-
doptera: Nymphalidae). Gt. Lakes Entomol. 28:93-94.
Williams, A. H. 1997. Notes on the life histories of Chlosyne (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
and Agrypon (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Gt. Lakes Entomol. 30:65-66.
1Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706.
1
Williams: Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin Prai
Published by ValpoScholar, 2003
2003 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 153
Williams, A. H. 1999. Arthropod fauna using the plant Onosmodium molle in Wiscon-
sin. pp. 165-171. In: Springer, J. T. (ed.), Central Nebraska loess hills prairie, 16th
North American Prairie Conf. Proc., Dept. of Biology, University of Nebraska at
Kearney.
Williams, A. H. 2003. Oxypolis rigidior, a new larval food plant record for Papilio
polyxenes (Papilionidae). J. Lep. Soc. 57:149-150.
2
The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 36, No. 2 [2003], Art. 6
https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol36/iss2/6
154 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 36, Nos. 3 & 4
Ta
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Williams: Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin Prai
Published by ValpoScholar, 2003
2003 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 155
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The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 36, No. 2 [2003], Art. 6
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Feeding Records of Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) From Wisconsin Prairies and Savannas

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