Unpredictability in the facultative association between larvae of Euphilotes enoptes (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) and ants

Larvae of the lycaenid butterfly, Euphilotes enoptes, are facultatively associated with ants. To determine whether variation in this association is predictable, I documented the proportion of larvae tended by ants and the identity of those ants over a three-year period in two study areas in central Washington state. Each study area contained numerous patches of Eriogonum compositum, the sole host plant of E. enoptes in this region. Using complete censuses and random subsampling, I estimated the dispersion and densities of E. enoptes larvae occupying each patch. The results of these observations indicated significant spatial and temporal variation in the identities of ants tending larvae and the frequency of ant attendance. In addition, early instar larvae were tended less frequently and by smaller ant species, than fourth instar larvae. Although larvae were aggregated at two spatial scales: individual plants within a patch and individual inflorescences on a plant, attendance rates did not vary consistently with aggregation size at either scale. Similarly, attendance rates were independent of the patch-wide density of larvae. I discuss the potential sources of such unpredictable variation and its implications for the evolution of further specialization in this facultative association.