I suspect this is normal behavior, just rarely witnessed (http://sdnp.nic.in/thematicareas/biodiv/subresources/ovipositonmistaken-butterflies.html). Such "mistakes" and "confusion" are a human perception, and in simple terms, may in fact be an important part of how female butterflies perpetuate their species by occasionally spreading the "risk" to plants that have a similar (to them) chemistry. Thus, ovipositing mistakes are probably the raw material for the eventual colonization, adaptation, and shift to novel hosts (successfully or not), which are key components of insect evolution.
Best wishes, Keith From: balakrishnan valappil <[email protected]> To: butterfly india <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 09:08:00 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [ButterflyIndia] COMMON ROSE(Pachliopta aristolochiae) laying eggs on a Sapotaceae plant Hi friends attached is the egg laying of a common rose on a plant identified as Madhuca longifolia,Sapotaceae my doubts are Is it a recorded foodplant of Common Rose? Is there any practice of laying eggs on nonfoodplants if host plants are unavailable? (and in this case host plants (Aristolochiaceae) were available at the particular location but away from the Sapotaceae plant) Balakrishnan Valappil --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Enjoy -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
